Nintendo has posted its consolidated financial results for the period ending December 2013 and, as the company's own forecast predicted, it makes for grim reading.

The Japanese gaming giant posted an operating loss of 1.58 billion yen (£8.78 million) during the period, and Wii U sales have turned out to be disastrous for the firm. It also predicts that by the end of March 2014 that will dip further, to an operating loss of 35 billion yen.

The figures are so worrying that company president Satoru Iwata announced that he will draw a reduced salary for the next five months, while other board members will have their salaries cut by 20 to 30 per cent.

READ: Nintendo dramatically lowers Wii U sales targets, from 9 million to 2.8, expects to post massive loss

It was revealed that in 2013, Nintendo sold only 2.8 million Wii U consoles and expects to sell just 390,000 more. It has so far sold 5.86 million Wii U consoles since its launch. Considering that Sony sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 units in just two months and Microsoft 3 million Xbox Ones, it is hard to see how the fortunes of that specific machine can recover. The PS4 hasn't even been released in Japan yet.

The sales figures of the 3DS are much more healthy, witthe company selling 42.74 million units of its handheld consoles to date, 11.65 million of them in the period between April to the end of December last year. Of that, it sold 2.11 million 2DS consoles last Chistmas alone.

READ: 9 companies fighting to stay alive in 2014