Nintendo’s Wii U Is Costing It Billions

Unlike video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) or Activision-Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) , Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY) only releases games for the consoles it makes, a strategy reiterated earlier this week by Nintendo of America's President Reggie Fils-Aime. In an interview with KING 5 News, Fils-Aime defended his company's policy, stressing that Nintendo will not be bringing Super Mario to Apple's iOS platform anytime soon.

While Fils-Aime makes some valid points about the unproven nature of mobile gaming monetization, iOS isn't the platform Nintendo should be focused on. Rather, Nintendo's continued support of its Wii U console in the living room is clearly costing the company billions of dollars in terms of lost sales

This becomes overwhelming evident when one compares the sales data of three of the fall's most anticipated video games: Take-Two's Grand Theft Auto 5, Activision-Blizzard's Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Nintendo's Super Mario 3D World. All three titles were designed for living room video game consoles, and all three titles received positive reviews. And yet -- sales data couldn't be any more different.