Monday, July 30, 2012

Nintendo Still Losing Money, But 3DS Sales Improving

Nintendo's first-quarter financial results, released this morning, saw the publisher post a loss as projected - but 3DS sales are on the up.


The net operating loss stood at ¥17.2 billion/$220.4m, an improvement on the previous year's ¥25.5 billion Q1 loss, with sales down by ¥9.1bn ($116.4m) on this time last year. Nintendo sold 1.86 million 3DS units during the quarter, in comparison to 710,000 over the same period in 2011, at the time of the console's European and North American launch, which means an increase of 162%. Software sales stood at 7.39 million, a 63% increase.


Nintendo has been selling the 3DS at a loss since the post-launch price cuts, but the financial results report that as of July 25th it is no longer selling at less than the manufacturing price, meaning that the company can start making money from sales of the console from this point onwards.


Lifetime sales of the 3DS now stand at 19 million. The Wii is sitting at 96.56 million, meaning it's still currently the third best-selling home console of all time behind the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.


We can expect the 3DS XL to boost 3DS sales yet further in the next quarter - and with the Wii U out before the end of the year, it's sensible to expect that Nintendo's Q1 results for next year will rather different.



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