Nintendo Cuts Sale Goals for Wii U and 3DS, Causing Stock Prices to Drop for Company

The year 2014 may be the year that either makes or breaks Nintendo, as the company is suffering from some serious sales problems that could spell doom for the legendary company unless sales of both the Wii U and 3DS improve or the company finds a new way to appeal to gamers.

Nintendo released an earnings statement on Jan. 17 that showed that the company was scaling back sales projections for their hardware for the 2013 financial year, which is set to end on March 31, 2014:

"Revised consolidated unit sales projections are, as outlined in "Notice of Full-Year Financial Forecast and Dividend Forecast Modifications," 13.5 million units of the Nintendo 3DS hardware and 66.0 million units of the Nintendo 3DS software, 1.2 million units of the Wii hardware and 26.0 million units of the Wii software, and 2.8 million units of the Wii U hardware and 19.0 million units of the Wii U software."

To put these numbers in perspective, Nintendo originally had a goal of 18 million 3DS handhelds being sold during the fiscal year and 9 million Wii U consoles being sold in the same time period. The Wii U has failed to connect with users, however, and sales of the console have been sluggish despite the fact that it was the first next-gen console available to video game fans. While it was widely assumed that the Wii U would fail to meet sales goals for the financial year after the console was routinely outsold by the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, this is the first time that Nintendo has admitted that the console has failed to make an impact. While the 3DS has been one of the bright spots for Nintendo in 2013, it is clear that the company was hoping the console would sell more to further relieve pressure off the company for the Wii U's inability to sell.

This news has caused Nintendo's stock prices to drop as well. When China announced that they were lifting a ban on video game consoles, stock prices jumped to $19 according to IGN. However, following this release by the company stock prices dropped to $14.89. This is even more depressing when considering that Nintendo's stock prices started off on Jan. 17 at $17.96, a drop of 17.09 percent in one day.
Look out for more news about Nintendo, the Wii U, and the 3DS as the 2013 financial year winds down.