Nintendo nine-month profits drop year-on-year, Wii U ships 1.95 million in Q3

Nintendo reported a net profit of 9.6 billion yen (around $93 million) in the last three months of 2013 on the back of shipping 1.95 million Wii Us across the quarter. Despite that holiday success, the company posted a year-on-drop for its first three fiscal quarters, the nine months ending in December 2013. Net profits fell by just under 30 percent to 10.2 billion yen ($99 million), with Nintendo noting the Wii U has continued to bring down its figures, chiefly because of price cuts in the US and Europe. Nintendo slashed its sales forecasts for the fiscal year earlier this month, and expects to post a net loss of 25 billion yen ($242 million) for the fiscal year ending in March 2014.

There's been no official announcement yet, but Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata and members of the board are reportedly taking a temporary pay cut in response to the company's recent downturn. According to French news agency AFP (via Polygon), Iwata told reporters in Tokyo he would take half his normal pay for five months, with board members receiving a 20 to 30 percent cut. If accurate, it wouldn't be the first time in his tenure that Iwata has taken a pay cut: His salary was also halved in 2011, the reason then being poor 3DS sales.

Talking of the company's platforms, Wii U total shipments reached 5.86 million, expected to rise across January, February, and March 2014 to 6.2 million. The holiday haul of nearly two million units helped Nintendo ship three Wii U games that broke the million mark: Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U, and Super Mario 3D World. The console's software shipments since launch are now up to 29.37 million.

While the Wii U fell way off Nintendo's fiscal projections, the 3DS is performing much closer to targets. The handheld shipped 11.65 million units from April to December 2013, taking its total in Japan past the 15 million mark. Nintendo has shipped 42.7 million 3DS units since launch now, over a quarter of the 154 million DS units shipped.

As for 3DS games, Pokemon X and Y looks to have usurped Super Mario 3D Land as the system's most popular game, after shipping a whopping 11.61 million units combined as of December 31, 2013. The Poke-pair did sell 4 million units in their first two days at retail, if you recall. Meanwhile, A Link Between Worlds shipped 2.18 million units by the end of the year, after launching on November 22. The handheld's software shipments since launch are now up to 152.29 million.

We may learn more of how Nintendo plans to turn things around in the coming days, with the company due to hold a corporate management briefing tomorrow.