Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has announced that he and other Nintendo board members will be taking pay cuts while they try to get the company back on track.
Iwata's salary will be fully halved for the next five months, while other executives will receive 20 to 30% less money, reports AFP.
Nintendo did not have a great year, despite the success of the 3DS. And the company's misfortune can mainly be attributed to the public's indifference to the Wii U.
Most recently the Mario maker announced a 30% decrease in profit over the last nine months and slashed its sales forecast for the Wii U from 9 million to just 2.8 million in fiscal year 2014.
So much for the year of Luigi
For now Iwata's pay cut will last only until June, but he reportedly said it could extend longer than that if necessary.
Iwata will chat with analysts on January 30, a meeting during which many hope the company will announce its plans to become profitable again.
It's thought he may reveal Nintendo's plans regarding smartphones. Although mini-games for mobile devices are off the table, the Japanese company seems to have something up its sleeves.
Iwata has reportedly even confirmed that "how to utilize smart devices is the theme" of its Thursday conference.
Competition
Meanwhile the Xbox One and PS4 are doing just fine.
Earlier in January Microsoft declared its new system to be the best-selling console of December 2013, though Sony said the PS4 was still number one overall.
According to AFP Sony had already sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 consoles by the start of 2014, just over two months after its release.
Compare that to the Wii U's forecast of 2.8 million sales in all of 2014 and you can start to see why Iwata and co. are sacrificing their own salaries to try to alter Nintendo's fortunes.
And that's saying nothing of the threat from mobile devices, which some believe will one day make traditional consoles extinct altogether.
