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People Are Buying The Wii U, But Nintendo Is Still Losing Money

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Nintendo has released a report detailing their results for this financial year's first quarter, and the Wii U seems to be doing better. Nintendo itself, on the other hand? Eh.

The star of the report is, without a doubt, Mario Kart 8, but the Wii U's numbers show improvement as well. Between April and June, Nintendo managed to move 510,000 Wii U units—200,000 more than in the last financial quarter—and sold a total of 2.82 million copies of Mario Kart 8. Almost three million in a month! That's pretty impressive.

The 3DS is also doing better, with 820,000 units sold between April and June, compared to the last quarter's 590,000 3DS units . This puts the Wii U and the 3DS at 6.68 million and 44.14 million total units sold to date, respectively.

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Unfortunately, Nintendo still isn't turning a profit. According to the report, Nintendo recorded an operating loss of 9.4 billion yen in this quarter—roughly $92 million. The report attributes this, and the still relatively low sales numbers for the Wii U, to a lack of hit titles for the system (other than Mario Kart 8, obviously).

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Nintendo hopes to generate more profit via a strong game lineup. The report explicitly mentions the third-generation Pokémon remakes and the new Smash Bros. for 3DS, and Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, and the new Smash Bros. for Wii U as games that could finally turn these losses around.

Consolidated Financial Highlights [Nintendo]

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