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Nintendo Reports 1st Quarter Profit, Steep Drop in Wii U Sales
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Video game company Nintendo posted its financial results for the fiscal first quarter on Wednesday. The quarter ran from April 1 to June 30.
According to the report, the company earned 81.5 billion yen (about US$829 million) in net sales, a 3.8% decrease from last year. Operating income was 4.9 billion yen (US$49.8 million), ordinary income was 14.8 billion yen (US$150.5 million), and net profit was 8.6 billion yen (US$87.6 million). Nintendo reported a 17.2 billion yen (US$174.9 million) loss in profits for the same quarter last year. The first quarter ended with a comprehensive income of 25 billion yen (US$254.2 million).
Nintendo cited 63.7% of its total net sales came from overseas markets.
The Wii U console shipped only 160,000 units worldwide this quarter, 60% less than last quarter, with corresponding software shipping 1.03 million units. To date, 3.6 million consoles have sold worldwide. The report cites that the Wii U is still operating at a loss, but increased profitability of the Nintendo 3DS handheld console and software contributed to increased earnings. Nintendo intends to sell nine million Wii U consoles by 2014.
For games, the report states that the 3DS Animal Crossing: New Leaf was the company's biggest seller at 1.54 million units sold worldwide this quarter, and a total of 5.4 million copies since its launch. Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon sold 1.43 million units and Tomodachi Collection was also a top seller at at 1.39 million units. By comparison, no Wii U software titles broke the one million sales mark.
Nintendo expects its net profit to rise to 55 billion yen (US$559.3 million) by the end of the fiscal year with net sales reaching 920 billion yen (US$9.4 billion). The report states that Super Mario 3D World is slated for the end of 2013, The Legend of Zelda Wii U is slated for early 2014, and Mario Kart 8 is slated for spring.
[Via Hachima Kikō, Joystiq, VG 24/7]
