Nintendo reported an 8 billion yen ($81 million) loss for the three months ended Sept. 30. Now the company hopes that the Holiday season will help it stage a turnaround as new game releases such as Super Mario 3D World and Wii Fit U could lift Wii U sales. Quarterly Wii U sales nearly doubled to 300,000 units from 160,000 in the previous three months, but cumulative sales remained far short of the company's goal of 9 million units for the financial year ending March 2014, Nintendo announced.

The Wii U, reached cumulative global sales of 3.9 million units at the end of September since its launch over a year ago. In contrast, sales of Sony's PS4 reached more than 2.1 million after going on sale Nov. 15. More than one million Xbox One machines were purchased on the first day of sales in 13 countries on Nov. 22.

Since Sept., the Wii U's recommended retail price has been reduced to $299.99 for the 32-gigabyte model in the U.S. A new price cut is a strong possibility for the Wii U if sales stay sluggish.