After a disastrous financial quarter that saw Nintendo posting a net loss of $324 million, the gaming giant announced that will cut the Nintendo 3DS price by $80 starting Aug.12.

The price drop, which is remarkable so soon after the device's release, only underscores the company's decreasing influence in the market against other handhelds and Apple's surging popularity. Nintendo said it lost 25.5 billion yen, around $327 million in the last three months that ended June 30. Sales plunged 50 percent from a year earlier.

The company's woes continued as its' much touted new handheld, the 3DS failed to capture the market's interest. Sales of the 3DS which lets users play games in 3-D have fallen short of expectations. The company reports that 830,000 people have bought the console in the U.S. since its release; it had expected to sells that many devices in just the first few weeks after release. Two weeks after the Nintendo 3DS was released in the U.S. back in March, Nintendo stock dropped at a 12-month low.

Newer players in the video game market also account for the lackluster Nintendo sales. Where there were only three top gaming companies, Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft there are now Apple and Android gamers to get a chunk of the market. Casual games played over popular social networking sites like FaceBook have also gained in popularity.

Lack of quality games for the 3DS has also added to low sales. The Nintendo flagship games like the Super Mario and Mario Kart franchises will only go on sale in November and December. Sales are expected to increase with these releases.

Nintendo is hoping the price cut will drive in more gamers to the 3DS. Prices will drop from $249.99 to $169.99 in the U.S. The company hopes it will sell 16 million consoles by the end of March.

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo's president and chief executive, apologized to Nintendo gamers about the price drop so soon after the console's release.

"Never in Nintendo's history have we lowered prices to such an extent, less than half a year since the product launch," Mr. Iwata said. "But we have judged that unless we move decisively now, there is a high possibility that we will not see many of our customers enjoying a Nintendo 3DS."