Nintendo cut it's sales forecast for the WiiU from 9 million to 2.8 million, leaving investors very angry. Both the WiiU and the 3DS didn't meet their sales projections, but still the 3DS came out on top last year, outselling the PS4 and the Xbox One.
Investors are pushing the idea of making Nintendo games playable on smartphone devices in order to increase profits. Nintendo is not too keen on the idea of having to pay Apple or Google or whoever else it is to get their games on their market. For years they've made 100% revenue from their personal console sales and game sales.
“It doesn’t mean that we should put Mario on smartphones,” President Satoru Iwata said at a news conference Friday (Translated by the Wall Street Journal). "Good games sell hardware. It’s just that customers now need more convincing."
Nintendo has milked Mario for years, using him to sell their consoles just as Microsoft has for the Halo series. Time will tell if Nintendo can keep relying on their star plumber for their new generation.