Darkain Arts Gamers

Nintendo has sold just over three million Wii U systems worldwide between the system’s launch in November and the end of December. 1.3 million of those systems sold were sold in North America.

The sales, while great, are off from initial forcasted expectations where the company had looked to sell 5.5 million consoles worldwide before the end of March. That forcast has been shifted to four million systems.

Nintendo is blaming softer demand for older systems, including the original Wii.

Nintendo had originally forcasted on October 24th that they would make a ¥20 million Yen profit by the end of March. That forcast has been modified to a loss of ¥37 million, which is a 17.3% decrease.

Nintendo explained the change in the financial report:

The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect a lower-than-expected sales outlook based on the sales performance in the year-end sales season and afterward. Also, exchange rate assumptions have been revised from 80 yen to 90 yen per U.S. dollar, and from 100 yen to 120 yen per euro, in consideration of the trend of the recent exchange rate situation.

There has been suspicion that the softer than expected sales for the Wii U were due to the fact that Nintendo offered two different models of the system. People who wanted the premium bundle, which cost $50 more but also contained quite a few bonuses, were unable to get one when they sold out at local retailers. Those consumers opted to wait until they could get their hands on the more expensive bundle, leaving the cheaper Wii U on the shelves.

On a positive side both Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U have sold over two million copies.

What do you think? Do you have a Wii U yet? If you don’t are you planning on purchasing the system in the near future?

Check out the full financial report here.