It's no secret that the Wii U isn't selling well, with Nintendo's bottom line suffering as a result. Unsurprisingly, the company is looking for new ways to invigorate sales, and a new report from Kyodo News indicates that Nintendo may be looking to smartphones for inspiration.

Apparently, Nintendo is producing and offering software to game developers that would let them build smartphone games that can also be played on the Wii U. The company feels that the console has a lack of compelling software and it is hoping that it can quickly grow the Wii U's library though this new initiative, which would presumably result in a new fleet of less expensive games.

While details around this plan are minimal, it's pretty clear that Nintendo needs to try something new to turn the Wii U around. 2012 was the second consecutive year the company lost money, and its newest console has only sold 3.45 million units around the world so far — quite a bit fewer than the 5.5 million Nintendo originally predicted.