Nintendo Confirms DSi Launch, Consoles In Trouble

via Gizmodo UK


If you've been hotly anticipating the launch of the Nintendo DSi since it was announced last October, then first of all we'd ask you 'why?' and secondly tell you that it has been confirmed for a UK release in the Spring.

This will follow a swathe of new titles including GTA: Chinatown Wars, Mystery Case Files: Millionheir and Rhythm Paradise, though we're yet to hear of a platform-buster that'll make enough use of the DSi's new features to kick-start sales.

Considering it's already been confirmed that the new console will be R4-proof (along with other related homebrew cartridges) we're not convinced it'll get off to a great start.

Despite the fact that the company has appeared all but untouchable in the console market, it might need these sales more than you'd think, as Nintendo has rather surprisingly slashed its full-year profit forecasts by 33%. This has led experts to predict that the 'Wii-boom' may now be over, citing it as a 'baffling and potentially very worrying' sign for the console.

It's not the only one either, with Sony announcing some rather depressing statistics for its own range, whose figures showed a decline of between 15% and 51% for the last three months of 2008.

Will the madness never end?

Nintendo downgrading their profit forecasts has everything to do with two things:

1. The yen's gains against both the USD and Euro.

2. The slowing of the console market in Japan.

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but over the last year the yen has gained about 30% against the USD and 25% against the Euro. That explains most of the downgrade in profit right there. In North America, the DS is still selling like gangbusters and the Wii is essentially sold out. Sales remain strong in Europe for both the DS and Wii. It's just that the profit margin is greatly reduced due to the strength of the yen.

Something that's a problem for all three console makers is the lack of demand for consoles in general in Japan. Basically, Japan has become a handheld-oriented video game market. If you look at the sales numbers each week, sales for the DS and PSP run laps around the sales of consoles. I don't think either Sony or Nintendo expected this. The Wii has done well in the sense that it's already sold millions more units in Japan than the GameCube ever did, but none of the systems are on pace to come close to the success of the PS2.