Sales of Nintendo’s (NTDOY) Wii U gaming console continue to falter, according to the latest retail figures. The NPD Group on Thursday released its U.S. video game sales figures for the month of February, which shows that overall sales of new hardware, software and accessories declined 25% year-over-year. Individual hardware sales were hit the hardest, dropping a whopping 36% from February 2012 as consumers wait for the “Xbox 720” and PlayStation 4.

All eyes were on Nintendo, however, following the company’s disastrous January performance. Wii U sales were estimated to have only reached between 45,000 and 59,000 units during the first month of this year, marking one of the worst months for Nintendo in recent years.

Gamesultra reports that February sales were affected negatively by holiday returns when consumers couldn’t resell the system at a profit as they could with the original Wii. But in its third month on shelves, sales of the Wii U improved slightly. NPD Group revealed that weekly sales on average increased around 40% in February, which Gamesultra estimates to mean that monthly sales of around 64,000 units.

Although sales increased, the Wii U continues to fall behind previous-generation consoles such as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.