Nintendo's 2007 profits almost double fiscal 2006

While a few companies have posted some hefty earnings this year, it's hard not to be impressed with the sort explosive growth Nintendo -- a 100 or so year old company -- has seen in 2007. Profit for the nine months leading up to December 31st was $2.45 billion, up 96.3 percent from the same timespan in fiscal 2006. Naturally a huge chunk of that is the 20 million Wii consoles sold, 14.29 million of those in the last three quarters, and the related software title, but it's pretty clear that the DS continues to shine, with 24.5 million sold in the last nine months, and most likely a higher per-unit profit. Nintendo shares are down 2.4 percent in Tokyo.

[superted @ Jan 24th 2008 12:15PM]

and i see Amazon are now selling the R4 with a perfect partner of a 2GB micro card!

Nintendo won't be happy about that...

[Liam @ Jan 24th 2008 12:24PM]

It doesn't matter how old a company is, as long as the current management remain progressive and forward thinking. I hope they continue to push towards a future where all games aren't made exclusively for 20-25 year old males.

[imacmatt09 @ Jan 24th 2008 12:28PM]

The Wii is so hard to get. It's sold out ever where. Sigh...

[LongshotX @ Jan 24th 2008 12:39PM]

Mine is on Ebay with 2 controllers, 8 games, the Wii itself, component and composite cables for 499.99. It ain't hard to find, trust me.

[Chris Heer @ Jan 24th 2008 12:45PM]

OK, so you can find them, but you cannot find them at, say, retail price brand new, can you?

Having a supply problem for a quarter or two is one thing. Having a supply problem for over a year is criminal mismanagement.

[Ray @ Jan 24th 2008 1:21PM]

Somehow I got one for Christmas. My folks were out shopping and there was a huge line outside Target. They asked what it was about and it turns out there was a shipment of 80 Wiis arriving. They got #53.
What pisses me off is that I was told that everyone else in the line was buying one to resell on eBay.

[LongshotX @ Jan 24th 2008 1:41PM]

Here you go: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110216818158&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001

[JP23 @ Jan 24th 2008 6:25PM]

Wish I could find one also but I refuse to pay eBay prices. I can wait.
This will be the first "game" console I have bought since I bought an Atari 2600 back in 1982. I did just buy a PS3 but that will be for Blu-Ray only I don't think I will ever buy any games for it.

[AdamY @ Jan 24th 2008 12:33PM]

I wonder if Nintendo stock will follow Apple's lead and promptly tank after wonderful news of a record profit-busting quarter.

[jim @ Jan 24th 2008 12:34PM]

"Since you're posting all these profits/sales statistics of companies why don't you bloody post the Nokia sales figures that came out today!?"

I was thinking the same thing. Fucking Apple all over the site.
Very disappointing...

[meagle @ Jan 24th 2008 4:08PM]

Nintendo != Apple

[treysweeney @ Jan 25th 2008 5:55PM]

meagle just made my day.
lmao.

[Chris Heer @ Jan 24th 2008 12:36PM]

Here's a thought, Nintendo...take some of those profits and, y'know, make some more freakin' Wii consoles. It's insane that you still can't find the bloody things over a year after release. Absolutely insane.

[Scott @ Jan 24th 2008 4:49PM]

They're making 1.8 million a MONTH. Do you know how long it would take to bring an a completely new plant into production from the ground up and how risky that would be for one piece of hardware?

Nintendo didn't have a crystal ball to tell them the Wii would obliterate others like the Xbox 360 even though that particular console had a YEAR long head start.

[LongshotX @ Jan 24th 2008 12:37PM]

I really wanted to get back in touch with Nintendo as the NES was my first console and the Gameboy was my first handheld when I was around 4 years old. I eventually bought a DS Lite and I loved it. But the Wii is another story. I really wanted to love this thing but in my opinion it was a step back (maybe a step forward if you count banking on casuals to drive profits and sells). You guys will probably bash me for this but the controller is unique but it really didn't add much to the games.My single player experience was dismal at best, fun at times but dismal. The online thing was broken, would have loved more co-op. And the Wii Channels weren't too thrilling. I guess I am just upset that I am no longer part of Nintendo's target audience. They want people who will buy into cheesy, terribly put together, mini-game-waggle fest. I think they could have done so much with the Wii but its alright I'm not mad at them for wanting their money. I always liked Nintendo, hope they stay around for a long time, but don't forget about the people who got you where you are.

[Rocketboy @ Jan 24th 2008 1:11PM]

I won't "bash" you, but I'll still vote you down. The controller adds something to the games that use it properly, and does not add anything to games that do not. I'd rather have it add nothing, then add something that's broken or does not work.

[gillsans @ Jan 24th 2008 12:41PM]

Maybe the Mariners can afford a slugger now.

[LongshotX @ Jan 24th 2008 1:46PM]

They will still suck.

[Oli @ Jan 24th 2008 1:53PM]

A friend of mine who works for the largest game importer in France, told me that this constant "shortage" of Wii is a voluntary move by Nintendo for the 2 following reasons:

1. It keeps the "hype" around the Wii, because it's (almost) always sold out everywhere. So it's a marketing technique.

2. Because they're selling the Wii over a long period of time, it makes Nintendo look good to their stockholders. If the market had enough units, they'd have a huge boom in sales for a few quarters (i.e when the Wii originally came out), but then the next year(s) the sales would be down or increased maybe less than 5-10%... which usually doesn't please shareholders.

It frustrates a lot of (potential) customers, but it financially makes sense.

[Goatee Man @ Jan 24th 2008 4:32PM]

Uh... I'm fairly certain that less sales != more profit.

Yes, people are going around saying this is purposely done on Ninty's part, but they seem to be neglecting some basic facts: for one thing, the video game market is a very fickle place. Remember the Gamecube? They were all sold out, too, for the first year or so that they were released, and look at what a catastrophe they turned into. Look at the PS3 -- you couldn't find one _anywhere_, and now they're overstocked. Nintendo is being cautionary and smart with this; they're not making assumptions this time and keeping production slowed down to keep that stuff from happening.

Secondly, as the video game (home consoles, anyway) business is still relatively new (it's only been profitable for ~20 years old, remember), consoles are still difficult to produce and manage. This isn't something Nintendo can throw together all at once. It takes about six months to be able to bump up orders for new consoles, and even then, it's still tough to get them produced fast enough.

Third, have you taken into account just how many Wiis Nintendo is selling? People go around acting like they should speed things up, but they seem to forget the fact that Ninty does _not_ have unlimited production capabilities. At some point they're just going to be unable to make 'em fast enough, doncha think?

Finally, why would this "friend" of yours know anything about it? Just because he's a game importer doesn't mean he's an expert on Nintendo or their strategies. I'm not saying that I am, either, but honestly -- this seems like common friggin' sense.

People really need to quit acting like Ninty is doing this on purpose... Yeesh. [/rant]

[Pdexter @ Jan 24th 2008 2:25PM]

Is that hardly a suprise ;) Owning over 40% of markets now and record sales, but engadget report about photo frame bug or one of the 70% of Apple news this site is plagued now days.

[Gope @ Jan 24th 2008 2:30PM]

Got a agree with posters here you posted about SE q4 result...Apple results will be 4 posts speculating it and Nokia's absolutely killer year q4 40% market share got nothing here.
133.5 million devices shipped alone in Q4.
Multimedia (Nseries) increased sales 48%
Enterprise Solutions (Eseries) increased sales 102%
437.1 million devices were shipped in 2007
.....

[engadget @ Jan 24th 2008 5:46PM]

"Naturally a huge chunk of that is the 20 million Wii consoles sold, 14.29 million of those in the last three quarters"

Who's the brain surgeon who figured that one out?

Last 3 Quarters, well lets see, thats 3/4 which is 75%
75% of 20 million is 15 million.
So in all reality since they only sold 14.29 million in the last 3, then that means they sold 5.71 million in the first quarter.
This also means they sold MORE consoles early on than they did later on in the year.

So seriously, why make special mention of 14.29 million in the last 3 quarters? Unless its a typo and it was all in the LAST Quarter, as in 1/4, then its not even worth mentioning.

-Casper42

[Jason @ Jan 24th 2008 7:12PM]

I'd love to buy a Wii if these assholes would stop grabbing them up and trying to hock them on Ebay.

[tekdroid @ Jan 25th 2008 11:09AM]

I would think the profits would be enough to introduce a new DS with support for modern wi-fi security standards :p

[low tech @ Jan 25th 2008 7:02PM]

http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/3324/1200030564936bl1.gif