Nintendo Sales Highlight Wii U Improvement, 3DS Takes the Lead

Nintendo today outlined its latest financial results, highlighting a slight improvement for the Wii U, but bigger steps still need to be made.

It was a mixed bag for the Japanese game maker, with the Wii U still plodding along with just 460,000 units sold worldwide in six months - ending 30th September 2013 - bringing lifetime sales to just shy of 391,000. Nintendo is estimating sales of 900,000 by March 31st 2014, banking on upcoming games like Wii U Party, Wii Fit U, Super Mario 3D World, together with key bundles to drive the audience forward.

The Nintendo 3DS, however, has gone from strength to strength despite the booming mobile gaming market. 3DS console sales reached 3.89 million for the period ending 30th September, racking up the worldwide lifetime sales to 34.98 million units - thanks to titles like Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Luigi's Mansion 2.

Net income for the period was 600 million yen, a profit compared to the net loss of 27.9 billion yen during the same period last year. Foreign exchange gains were 18.3 billion yen, up from losses of 23.2 billion yen last year.

However, net sales declined to declined to 196.5 billion yen - a slight drop from last year's 200.9 billion yen during the same time-frame.

Did you buy Nintendo hardware during the last six months - can the Wii U recover?