Nintendo profits drop by 60 per cent

Nintendo's profits for the first quarter of the financial year are down by 60.6 per cent, due to a fall in demand for the Wii and the strong yen.

The company made ¥42.3 billion in the three months ending 30th June, down from ¥107.2 billion a year ago. Net sales were JPY 253.4 billion, compared to JPY 423.3 previously.

DS hardware sales for the quarter stood at 5.97 million units - down from 6.94 million a year ago. Software sales fell from 36.69 million to 29.09 million, though Pokemon Platinum Version still did all right.

Wii sales were down by more than half to reach 2.23 million units. Last year over 40 million games were sold for the console, but this year that figure was 31.07 million.

"There were fewer blockbuster titles that briskly drove hardware sales this June quarter versus the same period a year ago when titles like Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit were launched in overseas markets," said Nintendo.

The company expects to hit targets of 26 million Wii sales and 30 million DS units for the full-year, and make an operating profit of JPY 490 billion.

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