Nintendo Halves Its Annual Profit Estimate Despite A Solid Christmas Period

Nintendo is moving towards a slim profit for its current financial year. The Japanese games giant just went public with its Q3 2014 numbers: total revenue came in at ¥271,521 billion ($2.3 billion), of which ¥45.2 billion ($383 million) was net profit.

The festive quarter saw 1.91 million Wii U consoles shifted, with 4.99 million 3DS devices sold. That’s an Christmas-fueled increase on the 2.09 million Nintendo 3DSes and 610,000 Wii Us that were sold in the previous quarter, although Nintendo admitted that sales of its newer 3DS devices “did not grow sufficiently” in Europe or the U.S. A worryingy precedent indeed.

In line with that concern, the company slashed its forecast for the end of the financial year. Nintendo now expects total annual sales to come in at ¥20 billion ($170 million). That’s half of its previous target and — based on its financial performance in the past three quarters — it implies an overall loss of ¥10 billion ($85 million) in its final quarter.

On the software side of things, sales of ‘Super Smash Bros.’ — which generated “extremely strong initial sales” following its debut — grew to 6.19 million from 3.22 million in the third quarter. Sales of ‘Pokémon Omega Ruby/Pokémon Alpha Sapphire’ for 3DS totaled 9.35 million, while Nintendo said other titles “showed steady sales”.

Over on the Wii U, ‘Mario Kart 8’ and ‘Super Smash Bros.’ clocked 4.77 million and 3.39 million sales respectively.

Hat tip Verge