Wii U will be sold at a loss

Nintendo has confirmed that the Wii U will be sold at a loss from launch.

The upcoming console is getting ready for a 30 November release across Europe, however Nintendo has claimed it will have a negative impact upon profits early on.

President of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata, yesterday told investors that the console has been given a lower price to satisfy consumers.

"Wii U hardware will have a negative impact on Nintendo's profits early after the launch because rather than determining a price based on its manufacturing cost, we selected one that consumers would consider to be reasonable," he said.

"In this first half of the term before the launch of Wii U, we were not able to make a profit on software for the system while we had to book a loss on the hardware, which is currently in production and will be sold below cost.

"Our loss has therefore widened during the second quarter in spite of bringing the Nintendo 3DS hardware back to profitability."

Nintendo has traditionally sold its hardware at a profit from launch. The news means that a Wii U price cut is unlikely in the near future.