Video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd said on Friday that the sales of its controller/console combo, Wii U, has flopped, pushing the company into a third consecutive annual loss.  

Nintendo slashed its global sales forecast for Wii U for the year ending on March 31 by almost 70 percent. Sales forecast for Nintendo's handheld 3DS were also cut to 13.5 million units from 18 million.

"We failed to reach our target for hardware sales during the year-end, when revenues are the highest," said Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president, at a shareholder briefing on the sales figures. 

The company that started by making playing cards more than a century ago, is facing fierce competition from non-specialist consumer hardwares that are being fueled by abundant of inexpensive game applications. 

On the other hand, the dominance of home console market is fairly shared by Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation. These two higher-end consoles even have the support of huge franchise titles such as Grand Theft Auto, making the scenario worse for Nintendo's consoles.

Iwata apologized to shareholders at a briefing in Osaka for company's poor performance but hinted that he was not stepping down. 

"There will be no major management shake-up in the short term," he said.

In 2006, Iwata grabbed the spotlight for creating a new niche with the Wii console tailored for the entire family instead of focusing on just hardcore gamers. 

Nintendo so far has declined to allow its games to be played on machines built by competitors or even on the other tablets and mobile devices.  

For the year ending on March 31, Nintendo is predicting a net loss of 25 billion yen which is a substantial reversal from its previous projection of a 55 billion yen profit. The company is expecting revenues of 590 billion yen, 36 percent down from the prior forecast. 

Further, the company is also expecting an operating loss of 35 billion yen this business year.  

($1 = 104.2400 Japanese yen)