During the 2013 April-June period, the sales of Nintendo's latest games console, Wii U, witnessed a disquieting slow down; with Nintendo having reportedly sold only 160,000 Wii U units.

According to a Joystiq report, the number of Wii U units sold by Nintendo in the three months to June accounted for less than 50 percent of the number of Wii U sales in the January-March period. Overall Wii U sales in the reporting quarter plunged nearly 4 percent to 81.5 billion yen ($832 million). However, Nintendo managed to report a profit for the quarter, thanks to the weaker value of yen.

Thus far, since November 2012, a total of 3.61 million units of Wii U console have been sold by Nintendo. The company is hopeful of selling a total of 9 million units of the console by March next year.

Noting that the Wii U home console has still not been able to catch on with video game players, Nintendo had acknowledged in a statement released in April 2103 that the console had a "negative impact" on the company's profits.

Meanwhile, terming `160,000 units sold' for the reporting quarter as a "dismal" performance by Wii U, UK Games editor at EGN. com Keza Macdonald said: "The next six months is going to be absolutely crucial for Nintendo... If the Wii U doesn't pick up, it would be sensible to think about launching a new console rather than flogging a dead horse."