Most people on this site keep stating that the WiiU is profitable for Nintendo even with it's poor performance, however Nintendo has throughout this generation so far actually had a substantial operating LOSS. People have used it as a primary reason as to why Nintendo shouldn't leave the hardware business, stating that it is still profitable even when performing badly. However if the 3ds cannot cover the damage done by the WiiU then this is clear not the case. Unless they far exceed projections for this coming fiscal year Nintendo will end the generation with an operating loss. Hopefully the NX can turn the situation around and return to Nintendo overall making a profit on their platforms.

What do you believe has caused the losses so far this generation? Is the 3ds turning a good profit but it still can't offset the damage done by the WiiU? Are the WiiU losses not THAT bad, but the 3ds isn't profiting as much as it seems? Or is Nintendo losing money in other areas not related to their dedicated hardware?

I had not realised this at all, thanks to ZhugeEX for the image from his twitter.

FY 2011/2012     OPERATING LOSS: $459.54 Million

FY 2012/2013     OPERATING LOSS: $366 Million

FY 2013/2014     OPERATING LOSS: $456 Million

FY 2014/2015     OPERATING PROFIT: $207.83 Million

FY 2015/2016     OPERATING PROFIT: $148.5 Million

FY 2011-2016     OPERATING LOSS: $925.21 Million

(these figures don't seem to PRECISELY line up with the graph, potentially due to changes in the YEN's Value? If these figures are inaccurate if someone could find more accurate figures that would be appreciated.)

I don't know about profits but they made the best exclusives of this gen by a long shot as far as I'm concerned.

That's not really relevant to the topic... at all. xD

So are they atleast close to breaking even?

I know, right?

Anyway, they said the same thing about Gamecube, always citing a picture that lumped handheld and homeconsole sales together.

This is not surpsing at all. Making games that flopped, taking a loss for some time with each wiiu sold, R&D, advertising (yes, they did as much people like to deny this) and poor sales overall meant they actually lost money with wiiu.

Edit: People keep saying how well 3ds is doing, but it's not. If you look at the software sales everywhere but in Japan, the 3ds is not selling much software at all. It's always, ps4/xbone and once in a while you see a wiiu or 3ds game. It used to so different with the ds dominating the charts with evergreen titles.

First of all, that graph doesn't show Wii U profit, they show total profit/loss. That includes all factors, including R&D costs for example.

Second of all, people aren't saying "The Wii U made profit", they're saying "The Wii U is making profit now". And it is. And they're on track to come out in the black for the generation.

What you are pointing out still doesn't negate the fact that WiiU is profitable for them now! You are alluding to how much money they lost overall, which Nintendo themselves stated a strong Yen caused the bulk of their losses(even Sony was claiming this for a long time).

I don't even get why people are so concerned with Nintendo's pockets, if Nintendo isn't giving up on dedicated hardware after the WiiU(which was the worst case scenario) then why do you care about what their profits look like?. Nintendo is still worth just as much as the whole of Sony and they have no debt, so if they say they are in dedicated hardware for the long haul so be it! It's as if people are fast lyrics holding on to some fantasy of Nintendo games on their Playstation because they secretly want to play Nintendo games. As long as they keep finding success with stuff like Wii, DS and now Pokémon GO, it will be a very long time before you guys see Nintendo games on Playstation...

By the looks of it, its seems like they are closer to break even rather than actually losing money, but I digress.

The point is, yeah this was not a good generation for Nintendo financially-wise, but that is also not the best argument to Nintendo just giving up on hardware.EVERY single company have its ups and downs.Eventually any company will screw up and thats why the companies have money in reserve.I just personally think its extremelly premature to go out claiming Nintendo is doomed and should just jump ship because of one bad generation.Now, if the NX fails as miserably AND Nintendo back-ups plany(smartphone games, theme parks, movies, etc) also fails to catch up and fails to sustain the rest of the company, then its more reasonable to ponder about the transactioning, but even then I personally think we are all bound to lose if that were to happen, but this last part is just my opinion.

If they keep running 100 years like this, they will still have made less losses than Sony with the PS3. =D

Yes R&D costs, which includes the costs of developing the WiiU, WiiU R&D costs may partly be included in FY 2011. Also as the generation is ending March 2017 I find it highly unlikely Nintendo will post a profit overall this generation. If Nintendo is losing money you can bet your ass it's all down to the WiiU. The 3DS must be quite profitable, but it's not been enough to overall put Nintendo in the black this generation.

As for people not saying the WiiU made a profit...