Nintendo Posts FY Profit Drop

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 5/17/2010

KYOTO, JAPAN — Nintendo reported weaker sales and a price cut on its popular Wii gaming system contributed to the company’s first annual profit decline in six years.

The video game company reported net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 dropped 18 percent to $2.5 billion (228.6 billion yen).

Nintendo said annual sales dropped 22 percent to $15.4 billion (1.434 trillion yen). Nintendo said sales of its DS portable series game players, including the DSi XL with larger screens, totaled 12.3 million in the Americas.

Wii sales totaled 20.5 million during the fiscal year leading to cumulative sales of 70.9 million, a record for a Nintendo console.