Nintendo Sees Q3 Profit Diving 46%, But Keeps Forecast

Serkan Toto

Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Sony is owning the web today with its powerful-looking PSP2 and the Playstation Suite cross-device platform for game distribution on Android devices. But what about Nintendo, which caused quite a splash itself with the 3DS announcement recently? Big N announced [PDF] its quarterly financials today, and things are looking OK at best.

The company’s profits were down a whopping 46% year-on-year in the third quarter of the last financial year (October to December in the case of Nintendo) to $1.3 billion, from $2.3 billion in the same quarter 2009.

Nintendo was partially hit by the negative impact of a rapidly rising yen (the company generates 80% of sales outside Japan), apart from weaker hard- and software sales.

For the full financial year (which ends in March), Nintendo kept its initial forecast of $2.6 billion in operating profit though. Hardware-wise, Nintendo slightly lowered sales projections for the Wii from 17.5 to 16 million and for the DS from 23.5 to 22.5 million. In any case, it’s a good thing the 3DS is coming soon.

Image credit: Kaynil / deviantArt

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