Osaka, Japan — Nintendo reported lower net sales, but a reduced loss in its fiscal first half, ended Sept. 30, and revised its forecast for its entire fiscal year.
Net sales for the fiscal first half slipped to 200,994 million yen down from the previous year’s 215,738 million yen.
The net loss was reduced during the first half to 27,996 million yen, down from the 70,273 million yen loss of the prior year’s first half. The operating loss for the half was down to 29,159 million yen, down from the prior year’s 57,346 million yen loss.
During the fiscal first half Nintendo 3DS hardware and Nintendo 3DS XL with screens approximately 1.9 times larger than those of Nintendo 3DS were introduced. As a result, the worldwide hardware sales of the Nintendo 3DS series were 5.06 million units. As for the Nintendo 3DS software, a side-scrolling 2D action title, New Super Mario Bros. 2, was released in both packaged and downloadable formats, and marked a total of more than 3 million units in sales.
Worldwide sales of Nintendo DS hardware and software only reached 980,000 and 17.3 million units, respectively, due to an accelerated generational change to Nintendo 3DS in the handheld device segment.
Wii hardware and software sales were 1.32 million and 23.74 million units, respectively, mainly due to few new title releases, the company said.
Nintendo has cut its fiscal year sales forecast by 10,000 million yen to 810,000 million yen. And its net income forecast is now 6,000 million yen, down from the previous forecast of 20,000 million yen.
The earnings forecast has been modified to reflect a yen appreciation stronger than expected at the beginning of the fiscal year, the actual sales result for the fiscal first half, and a change in the outlook for the balance of the year, Nintendo said.
