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Nintendo loses $457M as Wii U sales slow to a crawl

Nintendo blames the game console for its huge loss, with just 2.72 million units sold over the last 12 months.

Mark Walton

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Wii U's GamePad Sarah Tew/CNET

Nintendo has posted a loss of $457 million, or 46.4 billion yen, for its fiscal year -- making it the third year in a row of losses for the beleaguered company.

Nintendo revised down its annual sales estimate for Wii U from 9 million to 2.8 million back in January. But in the end, it sold just 2.72 million units in the fiscal year that ended March 31. Lifetime sales stand at 6.17 million. This stands in stark contrast to Sony's PlayStation 4, which -- despite only being on the market just over six months compared with the Wii U's 18 months --has sold over 7 million units.

Despite such slow growth for the Wii U, Nintendo forecasts an operating profit of $394 million (40 billion yen) for the year ending March 31, 2015. The company is forecasting 3.6 million Wii U sales in its current fiscal year. It expects 3DS sales to decline slightly to 12 million units.

Read more of "Wii U sales slow to a crawl as Nintendo posts $457 million loss" on GameSpot.