It's been know for a while that Nintendo was not going to match its yearly forecast for sales of its Wii U console. The company predicted that it would sell nine million units in the financial year ending March 2014, to add to the 3.45 million sold globally between its launch and April 2013. It has fallen woefully short of that figure, however, and has cut its estimations dramatically.

The company now believes it will have sold only 2.8 million Wii U consoles in the fiscal year, 6.2 million short of its original forecast. That would take the overall total to 6.25 million sold since November 2012. Sony has sold 4.2 million PS4 units since November 2013. And it hasn't even launched in Japan yet.

READ: Nintendo Wii U review

Nintendo has also lowered the expectations for 3DS sales for the financial year, from 18 million to 13.5 million consoles sold globally. That will bring it in line with the number sold the previous year, however, so the portable gaming machine is still proving to be very popular.

Remarkably, while sales of the original Wii have also been reassessed negatively, the company still expects to have shifted 1.2 million of them, almost half the amount of Wii Us sold in the same period.

The less-than-expected sales for all of its hardware has also negatively affected its forecast for earnings. Nintendo has shifted its operating income forecast from a 100 billion yen profit (£582.48 million) to a loss of 35 billion yen.

Troubling times for one of the games industry's most established companies.

READ: 9 companies fighting to stay alive in 2014

You can read the full financial forecast on Nintendo's Japanese website.