Nintendo in the red because of the Wii U

Pokemon of the father is not in top form . The giant Nintendo video games announced Wednesday, May 7 , a net loss of € 170 million for its fiscal year from April 2013 to March 2014. Its turnover fell by 10 % , reaching 4.2 billion. Concerned, his last two games consoles have not had the expected success.

Wii U home console output end of 2012, will have elapsed at 2.72 million units worldwide for the year of 2013-2014 . The Japanese company hopes to have sold 9 million to December 2013 and had revised downwards its objectives , targeting 2.80 million .

WII U AWAY SUCCESS OF THE WII

We are very far from the success of the Wii, the previous generation console, released in 2006 , which has sold over 100 million copies. Satoru Iwata , CEO of Nintendo, already acknowledged in February that its consoles , especially the Wii U, had not yet found their audience and suffered from shortcomings.

"The machine was poorly thought. Many people do not understand the usefulness of the gamepad (joystick) that also integrates tactile elements , "says Julien Villedieu , Delegate of the National Union of gaming.

The results of the 3DS , the portable feature of the Kyoto group console, has left, mixed: 12.24 million machines were sold worldwide in twelve months , against the 13.5 million hoped for. The goal , however, is slightly exceeded for related games carried by the success of Pokemon, Zelda or Mario 68 million units sold against 66 million hoped for.

So, the Japanese company has lost much of its luster. On the gaming industry , it represents only 16% of consoles sold worldwide . In 2008, she still held 46% of the market.

ENOUGH NOT FOCUSED ON SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS

" The consoles and games are Nintendo craft heart." Pronounced on February 4 , at a conference in Tokyo this sentence M.Iwata summarizes the continuing strategy of the Japanese pioneer of video games.

The latter has been little investment in applications on smartphone or tablet , the two supports of the hottest games the last two or three years. He hopes rather enjoy the installed base of 3DS to boost sales of associated games, and wants to add features to its Wii U hoping to give him the missing appeal.

However, times are good games on smartphone. In 2018 , gaming applications should reach 35 % share of the video game market , against 23% for console games according to research firm IHS Technology.

In Japan , sales of consoles and associated games fell 9 % in 2013 compared to 2012 and 40% from 2007 to 2013 inclusive . The country of the Rising Sun has even become the world's largest market for smartphone applications in October 2013, before the United States , thanks to dedicated gaming.

Nintendo but do not despair . Confident about its future investments , the group hopes for the coming year ( April 2014 to March 2015) an increase of 3.2 % of its turnover to 4.7 billion euros and an operating profit of € 283 million .