Nintendo"s Wii U console is officially a sales disaster. The company announced today in a special financial press release that it has cut its fiscal year worldwide sales forecast for the console to just 2.8 million, compared to its previous prediction of 9 million units sold.
That means Nintendo thinks the Wii U will sell less in its current fiscal year, which ends on March 31st, than Sony"s PlayStation 4, which sold 4.2 million units from November 15th to the end of 2013. Microsoft said the Xbox One sold over 3 million units from its launch on November 22nd to the end of last year.
Even Nintendo"s sales forecast for its popular 3DS portable console has been cut back, from 18 million units down to just 13.5 million for the year. As a result, the company expects to take a operating loss of 35 billion yen ($336 million) for the year.
Today"s announcement did not offer any information on how Nintendo plans to stop the bleeding on Wii U sales. In September, the company announced it would cut the price of its deluxe Wii U bundle from $349 to $299 but that apparently was not enough.