Nintendo's back in the black but the original Wii is still outselling Wii U

Nintendo's back in the black but the original Wii is still outselling the Wii U
Wii U: people just don't seem to get it

Nintendo's in the money as it announces that it has turned a profit over the last year - but its future is far from certain as it cuts its expectations for the Wii U and 3DS.

In fact, the original Wii console is still selling more units than its successor, with the older machine selling 3.53 million units since November and the Wii U shifting 3.06 million.

Still, for Nintendo to be making money is reassuring as this time last year it was a different story: the Wii was ageing, the Wii U was months away and the 3DS was not selling as well as the company had expected.

Nintendo sheepishly announced its first ever loss and the doomsayers had a field day predicting apocalyptic things for the Mario-maker.

Turn around

But today the company announced that it made a net profit of Y14.5bn (around £101m, $159m, AU$152m) in the first nine months of the current financial year, compared to a loss of Y48bn (£333m, $526m, AU$504m) this time last year.

So the coffers are looking fat(ish) but Nintendo's not splashing out on Veuve Cliquot and Rolexes just yet - it has decided to cut its forecasts for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS in the coming months.

"While Nintendo saw year-on-year increases in the sales of Nintendo 3DS hardware (up 11 per cent year-on-year) and software (up 41 per cent year-on-year), those gains were not enough to offset decreased sales of Wii and Nintendo DS hardware and software," it explained in a statement.

As such, Nintendo has said that it only expects to have sold 4 million Wii U consoles by the end of March 2013, as opposed to its original estimation of 5.5 million - it has sold around 3.06 million to date.

From Guardian

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.