Nintendo of Japan have today announced that the company’s annual profits have slumped by a 66%, hampered by a strong yen as well as a fall in sales.
Whilst the company commented that they had not suffered any direct damage from the devastating earthquake last month, it expected the tragedy to affect consumer spending across Japan.
However, Nintendo confirmed that their Net profit for the year, up until the end of March, hit 77.6bn yen ($945m/ £570m), compared to the 228.6bn yen the company earned the previous year.
Such a fall seemingly heralded the announcement that the company was to unveil its Wii successor at E3 2011, and showed the necessity of launching the Nintendo 3DS earlier this year to combat the growing opposition in the handheld market from smartphones and tables.
Fortunately the Nintendo 3DS, which launched in February across Japan before releasing across North America, Europe and Australia in March, has had a “smooth start in sales” which now total 3.61 million worldwide.
Regardless, with a profit slump of 66% for 2010-11, I could easily see Nintendo feeling that their hand is forced to release their new home console at the end of 2011 to boost trajected profits for 2011-12. Wishful thinking, maybe… but certainly a possibility with the console seemingly far along in development for its E3 debut.
Nintendo’s annual profits fall by 66%
