Nintendo isn't seeing a lot of success with its Wii U console, but it's going to try adding smartphone apps as part of a solution.
Nintendo is trying to make it so users can use smartphone apps on the Wii U console in an attempt to attract more buyers. The gaming company is offering conversion software to app developers so the smartphone games are compatible with the console.
This could potentially help solve some of the Wii U's problems. One issue is that the Wii U wasn't released with many software titles, and smartphone apps can help fill that gap while Nintendo works on releasing new games.
Another issue is that consoles now have stiff competition against mobile games, which are cheaper to buy and easier to play, since they can go anywhere your phone goes. Smartphone apps for the Wii U could allow for cheap game purchases, but the problem still remains that smartphones and tablets are more mobile than the Wii U console -- hence, this likely won't offer a boost in the console versus smartphone debate.
Nevertheless, Nintendo can use all the help it can get. Last month, the company missed profit expectations by 50 percent for the fiscal year (it only made 7 billion yen of the 14 billion yen that it had previously predicted). It also posted a year-over-year revenue drop of 1.9 percent to 635.4 billion yen ($6.4 billion USD) when the company was originally hoping for 670 billion yen.
To make matters worse, Nintendo only sold 3.45 million Wii Us worldwide for the fiscal year. This just missed the company's projected 4 million in Wii U sales. About 13.42 million units of software sold for the new console as well.
Nintendo expects a profit surge from the 7 billion yen this year to 55 billion yen next year (March 31, 2014) thanks to new games for the Wii U.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said new Wii U titles will be released starting this summer.
