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As predicted by analysts, Nintendo has failed to return to profitability and posted its second successive annual loss.
For the year ended March 31st net sales reached 635.422 (4.2bn) – 5.2 per cent short of the company’s 670,000m (4.42bn) forecast. Net income missed its 14,000m (920.3m) target by a whopping 49.3 per cent, hitting 7,099m (420.8m).
Overall Nintendo made a loss of 43,204m (284m) for the period. In FY 2012 losses reached 60,863m (403m).
Nintendo blamed weaker than expected sales” of both 3DS and Wii U for the disappointing results, as well as the currency markets.
America was Nintendo’s strongest region with net sales of 236,665m – down from 250,981m the year before. European sales fell from 217,382m to 169,887m while Japanese sales actually grew – up from 148,216m to 208,944m. As a result Japan overtook Europe to become Nintendo’s second biggest territory.
Also revealed was the global sales number for Wii U hardware. The console has sold just 3.45m units since its launch last year and only 300k have sold in the last quarter. In fact, it was outsold by the Wii which shifted 3.98m.
Specifically, Wii U has sold 1.52m units in America, 920k in Japan and 1m in all other territories (including Europe).
Leading Wii U titles New Super Mario Bros U and Nintendo Land sold 2.15 and 2.6m respectively.
It’s a different story for 3DS which despite missing Nintendo’s expectations is at least posting some respectable numbers. 3DS hardware sales for the period reached 13.95m units with New Super Mario Bros 2 shifting 6.42m units. Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold over 3m copies in Japan alone.
DS hardware sales reached sales 2.35m.
The company says that an improved slate of Wii U releases will boost the machine’s fortunes in the second half of the current financial year. It has also – yet again – pledged to improve sales by communicating the compelling nature of the hardware and software to as many people as possible through our new network service called Miiverse which offers an environment where people can empathise with others and share their gaming experiences”.
It predicts net sales of 920,000m for the year – an improvement of around a third. It also predicts a 55,000m profit.
UPDATE: This story concludes that Nintendo has made a loss based on its negative operating income. In net profit terms the conclusion – as can be seen in other reports – would be different.
