Nintendo's Wii U consoles are struggling to make sales goals, and executives agree to salary cuts because of their lack of profit, the Associated Press reports.
According to AP, the Japanese company made 10.2 billion yen ($99 million) profit in 2013, about 4.3 billion less than 2012 sales profits. The lack of sales performance has forced the company to slash Nintendo's president, senior managing director, managing director and directors pay checks for the five months beginning in February.
"President Satoru Iwata's pay will be halved, two representative directors including reputed game creator Shigeru Miyamoto, were hit with a 30 percent cut. The other seven board members will lose 20 percent of their pay, according to the company," AP reports.
The Wii U was reportedly projected to sell 9 million units, but was downsized to less than a third after forecast predictions proved to be inaccurate.
"In the fourth quarter, we expect sales to decrease significantly due to seasonal factors as the year-end sales season concludes," Nintendo said in a statement to AP.
However, Nintendo can still count on its 3DS handheld gaming system to bring in a consistent cash flow.
"On the portable side, the 3DS is doing considerably better than its home console counterpart. Nintendo pushed out 12.7 million units of the system during the last nine months of 2013, including over 5 million in Japan alone," Ars Technica reports. "That number sounds less impressive, though, when you compare it to the 24.5 million the Nintendo DS sold during a similar nine-month stretch in its third full year on the market."
Still, when the numbers are compared against competitors like Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo's sales aren't keeping up with the momentum.
"To put Nintendo's current console/portable dichotomy in some stark relief, consider that a game that sold to every Wii U owner in existence through 2013 would still have barely half the sales of 3DS mega-hit Pokemon X/Y, which has attracted 11.6 million sales so far," Ars Technica reports. "Even a mid-range 3DS game like Animal Crossing: New Leaf, with 3.52 million sales worldwide, was able to outsell the Wii U in 2013."
