Nintendo Profit Falls 36 Percent As Hardware Sales Continues Downward Trajectory
Nintendo finds itself in a bit of a tough spot. At one time the king of the home console market, Nintendo's modern generation hardware just isn't keeping pace with the competition in terms of sales, and as a result, profits are down. How far down depends on what you're comparing them with—net profit for the quarter was 29.1 billion yen (~$241 million), a 36 percent drop compared to last year.
Other financial figures include 221.5 billion yen (~$1.84 billion) in revenue and an operating profit of 33.5 billion yen (~$278 million), the former down 17 percent year-over-year and the latter representing a 7 percent jump. The good news for Nintendo is that it still finished the quarter with an overall profit.
What isn't so great news is Nintendo's continuing struggle to sell more hardware. For the last three months of 2015, Nintendo sold 1.87 million Wii U systems, down 2 percent from the same quarter a year prior, and 3.6 million handheld 3DS consoles. That brings the total number of Wii U and 3DS console sales to date to 12.6 million units and 57.94 million units, respectively.
The Wii U had a head start on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, coming out a year before either one. However, both have a bigger install base—Sony claims 36 million PS4 consoles have been sold to date and it's estimated that Microsoft has sold around 19 million Xbox One systems so far.
Nintendo was also affected by a comparatively weak lineup of games, though it wasn't a total wash.
"With respect to Wii U, Splatoon sold 4.06 million units and Super Mario Maker sold 3.34 million units, making both titles blockbusters that vitalized the Wii U platform," Nintendo said. "In addition, Yoshi's Woolly World, which was released during this period, and evergreen titles released in the previous period such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U showed steady sales."
Looking ahead, Nintendo is planning to launch another home console codenamed NX, along with a series of smartphone games, the first of which releases next month.
Other financial figures include 221.5 billion yen (~$1.84 billion) in revenue and an operating profit of 33.5 billion yen (~$278 million), the former down 17 percent year-over-year and the latter representing a 7 percent jump. The good news for Nintendo is that it still finished the quarter with an overall profit.
What isn't so great news is Nintendo's continuing struggle to sell more hardware. For the last three months of 2015, Nintendo sold 1.87 million Wii U systems, down 2 percent from the same quarter a year prior, and 3.6 million handheld 3DS consoles. That brings the total number of Wii U and 3DS console sales to date to 12.6 million units and 57.94 million units, respectively.
The Wii U had a head start on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, coming out a year before either one. However, both have a bigger install base—Sony claims 36 million PS4 consoles have been sold to date and it's estimated that Microsoft has sold around 19 million Xbox One systems so far.
Nintendo was also affected by a comparatively weak lineup of games, though it wasn't a total wash.
"With respect to Wii U, Splatoon sold 4.06 million units and Super Mario Maker sold 3.34 million units, making both titles blockbusters that vitalized the Wii U platform," Nintendo said. "In addition, Yoshi's Woolly World, which was released during this period, and evergreen titles released in the previous period such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U showed steady sales."
Looking ahead, Nintendo is planning to launch another home console codenamed NX, along with a series of smartphone games, the first of which releases next month.
