Shares in Nintendo have fallen by 18 per cent today after the company's profit warning on the back of slashed sales forecasts for all of its hardware, the BBC reports.
On Friday, Nintendo announced that it expected to make a loss of 35 billion yen ($335 million) for the current fiscal year which ends on March 31st. The company had originally anticipated an operating profit of 100 billion yen for the period.
According to Nintendo, sales of Wii U, Wii, and 3DS consoles will all fall below initial expectation with Wii U sales pinned at 2.8 million compared to 9 million, Wii sales set at 1.2 million, down from 2 million, and 3DS sales targeted at 13.5 million instead of 18 million.
Jefferies' analysts commented on the news saying:
"Its console-based business model spells doom for stakeholders. It has no choice but to accept the change. We believe Mario on mobile is coming."
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata told reporters on Friday that the company is "thinking about a new business structure" but warned that "It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone."
