nintendo-3ds-flame-redWhile sales of Nintendo’s Wii U continue to suffer, it appears the move to digital games has been helping the company’s overall profit.

Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime told GamesIndustry that digital sales are “soaring.” He said that of the 15 Nintendo-made games available on the 3DS eShop, 11 percent of sales have come strictly from digital downloads.

To show the rise in digital sales, Fils-Aime noted the game Fire Emblem Awakening — 33 percent of the game’s sales have come digitally. Overall 3DS game sales, he said, are up 55 percent compared to last year, counting both physical and digital.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s Wii U console isn’t exactly flying off shelves. After selling just 57,000 consoles in January, Nintendo’s overall sales rose 40 percent in February, according to NPD. Though that sounds nice, keep in mind that NPD considers January a five-week month, so Nintendo sold 11,400 per week in January. A 40 percent increase means that February (NPD counts it as a four-week period) sales were somewhere around 64,000, as Gamasutra reported.

NPD will release March numbers later this week.

Fils-Aime also added that the company plans keep its focus solely on games, unlike Microsoft, which has plans to make the next-generation Xbox the entertainment hub of your living room.

Nintendo of America is based in Bellevue.

Previously on GeekWire: Head-scratcher: Nintendo touts Wii U by showing why it’s better than the Wii 

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