Nintendo has struggled to compete with Microsoft and Sony's game consoles. The company's latest console, the Wii U, has been out since 2012 but it has failed to gain popularity. Now, the company has reached an important sales figure, selling its 10 millionth Wii U console, according to CNET.

Nintendo reported its earnings release on Wednesday for the fiscal first quarter which ended June 30 for the company. In the release, Nintendo said that they surpassed the 10 million figure during the quarter.

Even though Nintendo reached 10 million units sold of the Wii U, sales were still down in the quarter. Only 470,000 Wii U consoles were sold in that time period, while, in the same quarter in 2014, Nintendo sold 510,00 Wii U consoles.

The portable console made by Nintendo, the 3DS, was able to increase its sales during the quarter, compared to 2014. In the fiscal first quarter, Nintendo sold slightly over 1 million 3DS devices, up from 820,000 in the same quarter of 2014.

Nintendo reported an increase in year-over-year sales of Wii U software. In the last reported quarter, Nintendo said that they sold 4.6 million Wii U titles compared to 4.4 million last year. Nintendo's new shooter, Splatoon, sold 1.62 million copies during the quarter, according to Polygon.

Sales of 3DS software decreased from 8.6 million to 8 million this year.

After much success from its last console, the Wii, Nintendo hoped that the Wii U would replicate that success. The Wii U includes HD graphics and a special controller with a second screen, but it just could not gain popularity against Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One. Sony announced they sold their 10 millionth in August 2014, less than a year after its debut. Microsoft took just over a year to sell 10 million Xbox One consoles. The fact that Nintendo took three years to sell 10 million Wii U consoles shows how far behind they are from Microsoft and Sony.

Nintendo was met with tragedy when their global president Satoru Iwata passed away on July 11 at the age of 55. Iwata admitted that Nintendo needed to make some improvements and announced the company's next project, code named the NX.