Nintendo was always going to post a loss this financial year. The good news is it’s nowhere near as bad as expected, thanks to a remarkable uplift in 3DS sales, especially in Japan.

While the expectation was that the company would lose 65 billion Yen, the full year financial results saw it claw back some of that to post a loss of just 43 billion yen, or $US529 million.

A severe drop off in Wii sales, coupled with an initially struggling 3DS is blamed for the loss, and Nintendo expects to return to profitability in its next financial year with a net income of 20 billion yen.

The numbers are still enough to have analysts and investors worried, as it’s the first time in thirty years that Nintendo has posted a full-year loss. It’s also setting some aggressive targets for the upcoming Wii U console, with 10.5 million Wii U consoles projected for the machine’s first year on the market.

There’s still uncertainty about the Wii U’s viability in the market, so fingers crossed Nintendo is on to an unexpected hit. The Wii was, so why not the sequel?

Nintendo was always going to post a loss this financial year. The good news is it’s nowhere near as bad as expected, thanks to a remarkable uplift in 3DS sales, especially in Japan.

While the expectation was that the company would lose 65 billion Yen, the full year financial results saw it claw back some of that to post a loss of just 43 billion yen, or $US529 million.

A severe drop off in Wii sales, coupled with an initially struggling 3DS is blamed for the loss, and Nintendo expects to return to profitability in its next financial year with a net income of 20 billion yen.

The numbers are still enough to have analysts and investors worried, as it’s the first time in thirty years that Nintendo has posted a full-year loss. It’s also setting some aggressive targets for the upcoming Wii U console, with 10.5 million Wii U consoles projected for the machine’s first year on the market.

There’s still uncertainty about the Wii U’s viability in the market, so fingers crossed Nintendo is on to an unexpected hit. The Wii was, so why not the sequel?