Nintendo just released some financial results with a tweaked forecast on sales and profits. The company slashed profit forecasts by 70% due to slow sales of the 3DS in North America, and gave an estimate on how many Wii U console they expect to sell.
Nintendo revealed that the company expects Wii U sales to hit 5.5 million by March 2013, when the current fiscal year runs out. Back in July, Nintendo said they expect to sell 8 million consoles by March 2013, which include both Wii and Wii U units.
At the same time, some analysts estimated that the company would only sell about 4 million Wii U consoles during that time frame. Nintendo has now gone on the record and set a target number: 5.5 million.
This number is actually pretty close to the original Wii, which sold 5.8 million units during the same period in 2007. Wii sales are now at 97 million, and will likely pass 100 million by March 2013.
Source (Nintendo financial PDF)
