Nintendo Turns A Profit

sprinkles

Games giant Nintendo today forecast a sharp rise in profits for this year, fuelled by the success of its DS console and the recent launch of the Wii.

The Japanese firm upped its forecast net profit by 20 billion yen (€129m) to 120 billion yen (€774m) for the year to March 31, against a 98 billion yen (€632m) net income last year.

Nintendo said the expected rise in profits was “led by worldwide robust trends” in sales of the Nintendo DS, or “dual screen” console, and raised its sales outlook for the DS by three million units to 23 million.

The company sold more than five million DS consoles, which open like a book, in Japan alone within 13 months of its launch.



The more recent Wii console, which Nintendo introduced as its response to Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, has also been a success with gamers.

Nintendo left its sales forecast for Wii consoles at six million, but increased its estimated sales for Wii games from 17 to 21 million by the end of March.

Such confidence comes despite Nintendo last month recalling 3.2 million straps for Wii controllers, to address the problem of the device flying out of the hands of overzealous players. Players hold the remote to mimic the motions of a tennis racket, golf club or sword, depending on the game.

koneko

I've probably said this a load of times but there was no recall. They're offering replacement straps if people want them, but a recall is more serious than that. Most people probably won't bother getting a new strap from them.

This image is overused online, but damn appropriate right now:

Retr0gamer

People might think Sony and MS are the biggest in the games industry but Nintendo is one of the only games companies that is reporting profits year in and year out. It also saw a huge increase in it's share prices. Sony lost a lot of money on the PS3 R&D and will probably not be profitable until it is 2 years on the market. The MS games devision loses billions each year but with the 360 they seem to have gotten the balance right.

dan_y

nintendo is also the only gaming-specific corporation of the three. ms and sony have plenty of fallback

Retr0gamer

MS do but Sony are relying on there game division since their other divisions aren't doing too well lately.

Biro

Retr0gamer wrote:

MS do but Sony are relying on there game division since their other divisions aren't doing too well lately.

Ya, Sony aren't half the company they used to be. It's the stuff for them, skimping on consumer products.

1huge1

Yes but sony still have a lot to lie back on
there a bigger company than microsoft which most people dont know
dont believe me? try wikipedia

garthv

1huge1 wrote:

Yes but sony still have a lot to lie back on
there a bigger company than microsoft which most people dont know
dont believe me? try wikipedia

Uh what?
That the biggest load of bull Ive ever seen,
Microsoft are 10 times bigger then Sony, and with the recent recalls and the disastrous pricing of the ps3 Sony are going downhill
If you check your facts you will see that Sony reported a 93% profit loss in the last quarter whereas Microsoft has done nothing but go up

quarryman

GaRtH_V wrote:

Uh what?
That the biggest load of bull Ive ever seen,
Microsoft are 10 times bigger then Sony, and with the recent recalls and the disastrous pricing of the ps3 Sony are going downhill
If you check your facts you will see that Sony reported a 93% profit loss in the last quarter whereas Microsoft has done nothing but go up

10 times?

Link please.

4Xcut

quarryman wrote:

10 times?

Link please.

I think it was meant in more of this kind of way:

"My bigger brother is a million bazillion times better at football then yours"

sprinkles

surely the size of the company is based on turnover? In that case I'd imagine MS is bigger.

RE*AC*TOR

Sony's earning may be shaky at the moment, but I imagine long term the Playstation brand is too strong and will become a strong earner. MS essentially have a bottomless pit and can afford to lose money on the xbox (but if you beleive some reports they've started making money).

Ultimately its all moot. The battle hasn't begun in earnest until Sony and Nintendo can fill the shelves to meet demand.
The biggest problem MS faces is Japanese adoption, its a big market, and more importantly its the source of some of the best game developers. Whereas they can afford to keep going regardless, if they ever want to topple Sony they need Japan on side, not only for Japan itself, but many EU/US gamers have a devotion to Final Fantasy / Metal Gear / etc etc and if they don't make it to the xbox they will have to buy a PS3.

Sony's biggest problem, is obviously supply and price - time will tell how that changes, put it this way I'd buy a PS3 tomorrow if it came in at €300, higher than that it doesn't offer significant differentiation to xbox360. They are already losing too much money on every PS3 sold, so I can't see that kind of price point for several years.

Nintendo's biggest problem is not the obvious one - system power, however, it is the ability to get 3rd party developers to deliver AAA titles. They have pulled through in the end with the DS. We now need to see if the Wii goes the DS route or the Gamecube route. Its too early to say. The DS is so enormously successful at the moment that Nintendo as a company will remain profitable for some time.