Wii's Waning Popularity Sinks Nintendo's Profits News

A lack of key Wii releases and the recent price drop were cited as determining factors in Nintendo posting a 52% drop in net income for the six months ended September 30th 2009 compared to the same period last year.

Net sales for the six month period ended September 30th 2009 amounted to 548.06 billion yen, which represents a 34.5% drop compared to the same period last year and 21.7% below forecasts issued earlier in the year.

Operating income stood at 104.36 billion yen, a 58.6% reduction compared to the six month period last year and a 36.8% decrease on previous expectations.  Net income for the six month period was 69.49 billion yen, representing a 52% drop compared to last year and 30.5% below expectations.

As a result, Nintendo has adjusted its expectations for the full fiscal year ended March 31st 2010, the first annual drop for the hardware giant in six years.  Net sales are now expected to reach 1.5 trillion yen from previous expectations of 1.8 trillion yen.  Operating income has been reduced to 370 billion yen from 490 billion yen.  Net income is expected to drop by 23.3% to 230 billion yen form a previously forecasted 300 billion yen.  

"We need a fairly big number for Wii sales to attain the revised forecasts," President Satoru Iwata told reporters in Osaka. "We sense the momentum is returning."

For the six month period ended September 30th 2009, Nintendo sold 5.75 million Wii units, compared to 10.10 million units in the six months of the previous year.  It expects total sales for the year ended March 31st 2010 to stand at 20 million, compared to previous predictions of 26 million units.  Lifetime sales to-date of the Nintendo Wii stand at 56.14 million units.

The DS fared slightly better with sales of 11.7 million units for the six month period, and predicts that 30 million units will be sold for the full year ended March 31st 2010.  Lifetime sales of the Nintendo DS currently stand at 113.48 million units.