Nintend-OH NO! Sorry, Mario – your profits are in another castle

Nintendo is reeling after it posted a $96m loss on the quarter to June 30.

The Mario maker said that the quarter, its first of the fiscal year, brought total sales of 74.69bn Yen ($726m), down 8.4 per cent over last year's quarter, and a net income loss of 9.92bn Yen ($96m) compared to a 8.62bn profit last year. That eyebrow-raising drop is being blamed on exchange rates, restructuring costs and the dip in sales.

For Q1 of the fiscal year, the company reported that it sold 820,000 3DS systems and 510,000 Wii U consoles. Software sales for the 3DS topped out at 8.57 million titles, while Wii U software racked up 4.39 million sales. Nintendo pointed to a lack of hit games as the culprit for the slow Wii U software sales.

The company did note strong sales for one of its software titles; Mario Kart 8 moved 2.82 million copies on the quarter to claim Nintendo's only million-seller title. The Japanese giant is hoping that an upcoming run of new releases including Super Smash Bros, Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2 will boost software sales.

"For the year-end sales season, which is the biggest sales season of the year, we expect to expand sales by releasing key titles and launching new products," the company said.

"There is no revision to the consolidated financial forecast for this fiscal year."

The company has struggled to move its Wii U console in the face of stiff competition from the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4, and the lagging sales have taken a toll on Nintendo. Over its last fiscal year, the company reported just 2.72 million units sold and took a $464m loss.

According to figures from analyst firm ITCandor, Nintendo last year logged a 36.9 per cent share of the market, second behind rival Sony and ahead of Microsoft (which does not sell a handheld console to compete with the 3DS or PS Vita.) ®