Nintendo Reports Operating Loss for Q1

Nintendo posted its first quarter results for the current fiscal year, with higher than anticipated operating losses.

For the three month period from April - June 2014, the company reported an operating loss of 9.4 billion yen ($92.70 million), with sales dropping by 8.41% to 74.7 billion yen ($730 million) during the quarter.

The main reason, according to Nintendo, was because "total selling, general and administrative expenses including fixed expenses exceeded gross profit."

As for hardware sales, the Wii U did perform better than in the same period last year, selling 510,000 units compared to a far lower 160,000 units. Mario Kart 8, which launched at the end o May and intended to be the Wii U's lifeline, managed to sell 2.82 million units so far.

Despite this, Nintendo anticipates a full-year operating profit of 40 billion yen.

To combat the sales performance, Nintendo are banking on several first/third party efforts, including Mario Party 10, Wii Sports Club (retail), Super Smash Bros for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, plus exclusives like Bayonetta 2.

What do you think of the Wii U and Nintendo's outlook going forward?