Slumping Wii Surprises Nintendo

With hit games few and far between, consumers aren’t exactly fighting in the aisles to get their hands on a Wii anymore. Nintendo slashed its full year sales forecast for Wii hardware 23% yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reports, and offered little hope of a swift turnaround. “Right now, the mood is not one where people feel like they have to rush out and buy a Wii,” Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told analysts. “We need a little time for things to pick up.”

Nor did Iwata reveal any big surprises, like a revamped console or sure-fire hit. He simply told analysts to trust him. “You have to look at our track record and believe that we can introduce software that will be a hit,” he said, noting that outside-the-box efforts like Wii Fit and Brain Age have been unexpected successes. (More Nintendo stories.)