Nintendo posts $97 Milli loss last quarter. Luigi gives console market the Death Stare

I’ll cop to it. I didn’t buy a Wii U when Mario Kart 8 came out. So I hold myself personally responsible for Nintendo’s ass-sucking financial quarter. I mean — surely I must lead by example, right? I gotta get on this.

Nintendo lost $97.2 million in the yearly quarter ending June 30, the company confirmed in its latest quarterly results.

The loss comes even despite the successful sales of Mario Kart 8 earlier this year, which saw shipments of 2.82 million. Why? Nintendo states that these sales can be attributed to existing Wii U owners and not new buyers. The company shipped just 510,000 units of the console between April and June.

Nintendo still expects to hit its target of 3.6 million units sold for this fiscal year. The Wii U’s total shipments rose to 6.68 million as of June.

The company confirms Mario Kart 8 represents 65 percent of the total 4.39 million software shipments made in this three month period, 80 percent of which came from outside Japan.

Nintendo appears to be finding most of its success in handheld devices, however. The company shipped 820,000 3DS units across April to June, taking the system’s total figures to over 44 million.

Looking forward, Nintendo said it expects to continue producing “robust” profits from the Nintendo 3DS system with the release of the Pokemon Sapphire and Ruby remakes, as well as Super Smash Bros. in October.

[Polygon]