Wii U flops for Nintendo, still overshadowed by older brother

Wii U flops for Nintendo; is outsold by its predecessor
Wii shall not be moved as Nintendo's biggest home console seller, as Wii U flops

Nintendo managed to sell just 3.45 million Wii Us in the last financial year, with its predecessor the Wii actually selling more units - but the Japanese gaming giant is still predicting great things for 2014.

The company's operating income was 36.4 billion yen ($366 million/£240m) in the negative, with net income creeping into the black.

But the company remains bullish about the prospects for the coming year, insisting that the launch of games like Mario Kart, Wii Fit and Super Mario Bros for the Wii U will 'drive hardware momentum'.

And about time

That momentum is certainly needed, with the Wii outselling its successor; 3.45 million Wii U sales are officially tallied for FY13 with the Wii just short of 4 million (3.98 to be exact).

The original Wii will hit the landmark of 100 million all time sales in the coming weeks - it was just 160,000 short of that total at the end of March.

Nintendo's optimistic forecast is that it will sell another 9 million Wii Us by the end of March 2014, as well as 38 million games for the platform.

The Nintendo 3DS has hit the 30 million all times sales mark, hitting just under 14m sales in the last financial year and just shy of 50 million games.

Patrick Goss

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.