Nintendo Blasts Into The Financial Stratosphere News

It certainly doesn't take a genius to realise that Nintendo has turned itself around in the last three years, and in its latest half-year figures (timed with quarterly statements from both Microsoft and Sony) that success doesn't show any signs of abating.

Kyoto-based Nintendo has revealed six month net sales for the end of the September of 694.8 billion Yen (£2.97 billion), and increase of 132% on the year, with operating and net income both standing at a healthy 188.8 billion Yen (£806.3 million) - up 181% - and 132.4 billion Yen (£565.4 million) - up 143.7% - respectively. Sales outside of Japan represent over 77% of the company's total revenue. Nintendo has also revealed that over 13 million units of Wii have been sold to date, with production standing at 1.8 million units per month. The figure firmly puts Wii as the biggest selling 'seventh generation' home console, though the little white box is dwarfed by its handheld cousin: global sales of Nintendo DS now stand at over 55 million units since it launched in 2004. As a result of the continued success of both Wii and DS, Nintendo has now raised its outlook for the fiscal year as a whole, with net income expected to stand at around 275 billion Yen (£1.17 billion), with sales of 1.55 trillion Yen (£6.62 billion).

The first quarter of the 2007/08 fiscal year was always going to be a big one for Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division following the launch of Halo 3 at the tail end of September, and so it's proved. The division, which includes both Zune and Xbox sub-divisions, last posted an operating profit in the second quarter of fiscal 2004/05 when Halo 2 arrived on the original Xbox, and once again it's left to Master Chief to lift EDD out of the red. The 'biggest launch in entertainment history' raised over $170 million (£83.0 million) on day one, helping the division to turn the loss of $142 million (£69.3 million) in the first quarter of fiscal 2006/07 into an operating income of $165 million (£80.6 million). Revenues for the division as a whole increased significantly from $1.01 billion (£493.1 million) to $1.93 billion (£942.2 million) on the year.

Finally, Sony Computer Entertainment has revealed that whilst sales in the division have increased by over 42% on the year, an increased operating loss was recorded, standing at 96.7 billion Yen (£412.9 million). In a statement, the division commented: "This deterioration was primarily due to the loss arising from the strategic pricing of the PS3 at points lower than its production cost and the increase in PS3 inventory-related write-downs." Quarterly sales of PlayStation 3 stood at just 1.33 million, compared to 7.33 million Wiis over the past six month period for Nintendo. Speaking to Bloomberg, Seiichiro Iwamoto of Mizuho Asset Management Co. in Tokyo comments that the immediate future for the division isn't particularly position for Sony: `There are still no bright signs for the game business...PS3's price is still too high to help Sony regain market share.''

The next quarter, which includes the busy Holiday period will obviously be huge for all three of the platform holders: Will Nintendo be able to keep up with the mainstream demand for Wii given comments from CEO Satoru Iwata stating that they won't be increasing production? Can the 40GB PlayStation 3 turn the fortunes of Sony Computer Entertainment, and will Microsoft manage to push past the glass ceiling it's been up against for the last twelve months? [Edit] Corrected the number of DS units sold - thanks to Anon.