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Analysts: Nintendo may forecast drop in profits
Striding into informed meta-prediction territory, several Tokyo-based analysts have suggested that Nintendo may cut its earnings forecast in preparation for a decline in profits -- the first in six years. According to a Bloomberg report, Nintendo's adjustments will be prompted by slowing Wii sales and a stronger Yen. Scheduled to report earnings on October 29th, Nintendo is expected to indicate an 11 percent fall in net income to 249.3 billion yen (nearly $2.75 billion) for the fiscal year. Soichiro Fukuda, a Tokyo-based Citigroup Inc. analyst, expects "a large downward revision" from the manufacturer in the form of a 29 percent profit drop to 201 billion yen (roughly $2.2 billion).While the figures make for dry reading, they illuminate the altered landscape in which Nintendo and its products now compete. Standing atop a wobbling economy, the games industry now hosts a revitalized PlayStation 3 and a Wii that brings in fewer dollars -- the only thing that hasn't changed, of course, is our desire to buy the DS again and again.
Wii sales up 100% over Christmas, says Pachter
A dry but happy piece of business news to start your week off: Wedbush Morgan's all-seeing analyst Michael Pachter reckons Wii sales in the U.S. accelerated dramatically over the holidays, with Christmas figures "up more than 100%."According to Pachter, that translates into "around 3 million" Wiis sold during December. As we previously mentioned, the record for U.S. hardware sales in a single month is 2.7 million, a figure set by the PlayStation 2 in December 2002. When the latest NPD figures are released on January 15, it looks like we'll have a new record-holder. Nintendo obviously didn't get the "recession" memo.
DS Lite breaks DS Lite's single-week UK sales record
Uh-oh, we've trotted out the "It Prints Money" image. That must mean DS Lite has sold well for the quadrillionth time; and it has. In this case, it beat its own record in the UK for single-week sales, set this time last year. MCV reports that the DS Lite was the best-selling system for the week of November 29 to December 6, with UK shoppers snapping up more of the handheld than they have any other games machine in a seven-day period ever. The site quotes GFK-ChartTrack director, Dorian Bloch, as divining, "We can now assume that if there is still some DS Lite stock in the land in the next couple of weeks, the record will go again." Go, DS Lite, go. After all, your status as the darling of hardware sales may only last until summer 2009.
Forbes: Nintendo making $6 profit on every Wii sold
While Sony and Microsoft dream of turning a profit on their consoles, Nintendo is doing just that. According to a new article from Forbes, the Big N makes $6 in operating profit from every Wii unit sold. Nearly 19 million units have been sold worldwide so far during 2008, earning Nintendo a tidy $114M in profit, taking that $6-per-system figure into account. That's not the extent of the interesting numbers in the article, though.Forbes points out that, while Nintendo is turning a profit on hardware, the fact that its top-selling software is all first party means it is losing out on serious revenue normally brought in via licensing fees. Still, according to its figures, the magazine claims that there will be in the neighborhood of 100 million more pieces of Wii software sold in 2008 (220M) than the nearest competitor, Xbox 360, at 125M (PS3 is on track for 120M). One has to wonder, though, how many of those Wii games will be snagged from a bargain bin, given recent analyst data.
Nintendough: Fiscal 2009 forecast raised again
Good news, everybody*! Nintendo expects to make even more money during its 2009 fiscal year than it had previously anticipated. And it had previously anticipated quite a bit.According to VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi and Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter, Nintendo has raised its financial forecast for the six months ending Sept. 30, 2008, as well as its expectations for the full fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. Thanks to phenomenal Wii and DS sales and improved foreign currency exchange rates, Nintendo now expects to shift 30.5 million DS units in the full fiscal year, along with 197 million DS games, 26.5 million Wiis and 186 million Wii games. Projected fiscal 2009 revenue? Two thousand billion Yen. That doesn't even sound like a real number!*Particularly those obsessed with the financial wellbeing of emotionally detached megacorporations.
Printing money has consequences
Sometimes, as we get caught up in our passion for Nintendo, we forget to look at the darker side of the company's antics. Sure, we all joke about how the Nintendo DS just prints money, but we must have known that Nintendo couldn't keep up with this practice forever. Check after the break to see the rest of this webcomic, which takes a interesting approach to the printing money meme.
Nintendo enjoys its biggest sales week ever in U.S., breaks record
It seems that Black Friday was very, very, very good to Nintendo, as both the DS Lite and the Wii performed quite impressively in the U.S. over the holiday week. Nintendo has announced that it sold 653,000 DS Lites over the week of November 18-24, setting a new record for the portable, for Nintendo, and for the entire industry. The number of units moved is record-breaking, exceeding the industry's previous record, also held by Nintendo with the Game Boy Advance's sales during Thanksgiving 2005. The Wii also performed quite admirably, selling 350,000 units, a number topped only by the console's launch week. No word on how these sales figures compare to Sony or Microsoft's, but it's not like it's a competition or anything, right? Update: Specified sales figures as pertaining to the U.S., and clarified the record as industry-wide. Read -- Nintendo Sales Go Through the Roof During Thanksgiving Week [GameDaily] Read -- Nintendo Has Its Biggest Week Of Sales... Ever [Game|Life]
Confirmed (again): Nintendo nauseatingly rich
Once upon a time, in a land called Eighteen Months Ago, a new games console called "Wii" was announced. With its easily manipulated name, unusual motion-sensing controls and standard definition visuals, many onlookers instantly chose to hoot and holler at this most unconventional piece of hardware. Amidst much snickering, God-awful puns and subtle anatomical jokes were cracked.Fast-forward a year and a half, and it is Nintendo that is laughing longest, loudest, and yes, hardest. Earlier today, the company published a half year profits forecast that practically glowed with positivity: profit is expected to treble for this fiscal year, the previously mocked Wii is expected to sell 17.5m units by March 31, and Ninty has raised expected software sales during this fiscal year by 35%.Translation: Nintendo is neck-deep in lovely, filthy lucre. And to think both Wii Fit and Brawl are yet to touch down in stores.
Nintendo boosts profit forecast fourth time this fiscal year
Still not content with forecasting massive already profits, Nintendo has raised its sales forecast a fourth time for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Total sales are now said to be ¥966 billion (US $8.1 billion), up from the previous estimation of ¥900 billion (US $7.5 billion). Nintendo said they also expected their profit to beat expectations, which they set at a record ¥185 billion operating profit and ¥120 billion (just over US $1 billion) net profit.Actual figures will be announced April 26. In the meantime, Nintendo will be busy constructing a life size version of Super Mario World with a twelve-foot naked, chocolate Miyamoto effigy in the middle of the world. Don't worry, we hear mint leaves will cover up his naughty bits.
