Kyoto, Japan-based Mario house Nintendo announced losses for the first nine months of its fiscal year and downgraded its full-year earnings and shipping forecasts on Thursday.
Nintendo said it had to downgrade its earnings forecast in light of a stronger-than-expected yen, which is detrimental to companies like Nintendo that rely heavily on overseas sales.
For the full year ending March 31, 2012, the company now projects losses of 65 billion yen ($837 million), an increase from a previously-projected loss of 20 billion yen ($258 million). Sales forecasts for the year were also downgraded, from 790 billion yen ($10.2 billion) to 660 billion yen ($8.5 billion).
For the nine months ended December 31, Nintendo reported revenues of 556.2 billion yen ($7.2 billion), a 31 percent drop compared to the same period a year ago. The company recorded a loss of 48.4 billion yen ($623 million) for the period, down from profits of 49.6 billion yen ($639 million) year-on-year.
Nintendo also downgraded its full-year global shipment forecasts. Hardware shipments for the Nintendo 3DS handheld are now expected to hit 14 million units during the year, versus a previous forecast of 16 million.
Full-year 3DS software shipments are now projected to be 38 million units, down from a previous forecast of 50 million.
Life-to-date 3DS shipments were at just over 15 million units as of December 31, 2011. Nintendo said shipments of the handheld "increased significantly" during the holiday quarter, as titles including Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 drove momentum, but the company still missed sales targets.
Nintendo added, "With the regained momentum and a strong lineup of software on the way, prospects for the platform remain strong."
Wii hardware shipments for the full year are forecast to hit 10 million units, down from previous projections of 12 million. Life-to-date Wii hardware shipments were at just under 95 million units at the end of December.
Annual Wii software shipment projections were unchanged, and are expected to stand at 100 million units at the end of March. Total life-to-date Wii software shipments were 805 million units at the end of December.
Full-year hardware shipments of the aging Nintendo DS are now expected to be 5.5 million, down from the previous forecast of 6 million units. Life-to-date, Nintendo DS has shipped a staggering 151 million units through the end of December.
Nintendo DS full-year software shipment forecasts were also slightly downgraded, from 62 million to 59 million. Life-to-date DS software shipments were 891 million units as of December 31.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told reporters that the new tablet controller-equipped Wii U will ship worldwide by holiday 2012.
So they're still going to push everything to Christmas even though it will probably be ready months in advance and repeat the same mistake they made in 2011.
"Nintendo had stated that they were holding some games until 2012. "
Yes and there explanation was the packed holiday line up for the 3DS, looking at the worldwide sales of Super Mario Land and Super Mario Kart and the japanese sales of Monster Hunter, I find it a understandable explanation. Hard to imagine, they could have sold more games in the 6 week holiday, then they did, by releasing more games.
I like to follow the opinion that the delayed the eshop until e3. Since they could have just given access to DSI content. And it's release was delayed.. Twice I think.
But the eShop as released was still awful, no where near App Store quality user experience. Though arguably this is because of Ninttendo's intentions (they see the eShop primaily as a way to flog their own 1st party content) not because of lack of time.
@Neil: Just one of the many mistakes Nintendo made during the release of the 3DS. Fact is software sells hardware, and Nintendo is too drunk in the success of the Wii (which didn't require almost any software at all to push the units, since each box already came with the Wii's Killer App, Wii Sports).
I don't know. The DS did not have much software either in the beginning.
And generally no console has launch titles that are very memorable.
If they made a mistake it was doing all those DS models late in the DS life cycle. That confused customers and many thought and still think the 3DS was just a 3d DS.
The next mistake was launching with hardware that was a bit clanky. And didn't have 2 analog sticks.
The pricing was too high but how much of that was a mistake and how much was due to the exchange rate and desire to put 3d into the device?
I won't buy this system unless it has a good launch lineup, much like how the Super Mario Bros 64 sold the N64. I want to see the Wii U's capabilities shown on its premium launch title. Mario will be their best bet for this achievement. And of course, some sort of wii fit or wii sports for the more casual crowd.
Wii U is going to do GameCube plus 10-20 million unless they hit it out of the park with the stream to controller feature or show off some killer app software. So far they have showed off 2 or 3 mini-games which utilize the tablet controller and wiimotes. Nothing that spells killer app and nothing that is more than a minor part of a Mario or Wii Party game.
They won't attract 3rd parties in the long run because the console will be more 360 powerful than 720 powerful.
Controller will be interesting but that will be limited to 1st Party and 3rd party ports or half-ass titles.
They need the stream to controller feature to attract the kids and differentiate. And 2 tablet controllers could do wonders for games like Madden, but ....the best version of Madden willl be on another console.
There is always room for the x factor killer game. And Nintendo if they make the console affordable can probably make money as a 1st party machine if they budget accordingly.
Well my fear is Nintendo has begun it's Sega death spiral with the Wii U 1st out and 1st out of date and 720 being around 20% more powerful and ps4 hasn't been unveiled shortly after ps4 arrives Wii U too will replace Wii U and then the only question will be who gets Nintendo?!
Apple,ms or sony?!! Sega rushed the next gen out and was always 1st out of date then again rushing the next gen until at last they got it right and sadly left hardware which is where I see Nintendo very soon!
it is kind of hard to see through the lifecycles here. the wii never was current gen hardware. i dont think the wii u will as well. to me that is a great advantage. the tech wars will be over soon, but i think the wii u is missing camera motion controls like kinect.
as a consumer, what i hope for is that there will be at least one wow moment in the wii u. thats what i had with super mario galaxy. i am so curious what mario is doing right now on wii u development hardware. and zelda... mmm... its about time this game gets a real technology upgrade. ;-)
So weird that people are saying the xbox 720 being 20% more powerful means the Wii U will not be current gen. You really don't know what you're talking about there.
If Nintendo launches with great games and a good price the Wii U will do great and if they don't it will flop. Its really that simple.
I hope they don't repeat the same mistake, they made in 2011 and launch a sytem, before they have the games ready that will sell it.
Yes and there explanation was the packed holiday line up for the 3DS, looking at the worldwide sales of Super Mario Land and Super Mario Kart and the japanese sales of Monster Hunter, I find it a understandable explanation. Hard to imagine, they could have sold more games in the 6 week holiday, then they did, by releasing more games.
And generally no console has launch titles that are very memorable.
If they made a mistake it was doing all those DS models late in the DS life cycle. That confused customers and many thought and still think the 3DS was just a 3d DS.
The next mistake was launching with hardware that was a bit clanky. And didn't have 2 analog sticks.
The pricing was too high but how much of that was a mistake and how much was due to the exchange rate and desire to put 3d into the device?
They won't attract 3rd parties in the long run because the console will be more 360 powerful than 720 powerful.
Controller will be interesting but that will be limited to 1st Party and 3rd party ports or half-ass titles.
They need the stream to controller feature to attract the kids and differentiate. And 2 tablet controllers could do wonders for games like Madden, but ....the best version of Madden willl be on another console.
There is always room for the x factor killer game. And Nintendo if they make the console affordable can probably make money as a 1st party machine if they budget accordingly.
Apple,ms or sony?!! Sega rushed the next gen out and was always 1st out of date then again rushing the next gen until at last they got it right and sadly left hardware which is where I see Nintendo very soon!
If Nintendo launches with great games and a good price the Wii U will do great and if they don't it will flop. Its really that simple.