Nintendo profits down 9.4% on falling sales

Nintendo has reported a 9.4 per cent decline in profits for the nine months ended December 31, 2009, from JPY 212.5 billion (£1.4bn / $2.5bn) to JPY 192.6 billion (£1.3bn / $2.1bn).

Net sales were JPY 1.18 trillion, or 23 per cent, down from JPY 1.54 trillion, with operating profit plunging 40.8 per cent from JPY 501.3 billion (£3.4bn/ $5.5bn ) for the nine months last year, to JPY 296.6 (£2.0bn / $3.2bn).

The company blamed slow sales in the first half of the year and appreciation of the yen, although it noted that sales during the third quarter were "robust" and holiday sales in some regions exceeded last year's performance. For the full year the company expects to sell 192 million games, up from the 180 originally forecast, due to bundling with hardware over the Christmas period.

Global sales of Wii hardware were 17.05 million units during the period, with game sales at 156.64 million units. New Super Mario Bros. Wii has now sold 10.55 million units, Wii Fit Plus 10.16 million units and Wii Sports Resort 13.58 million units worldwide.

During the nine month period DS units – which include the newly launched DS iLL – reached 23.35 million sold, with Pokemon HeartGold Version and Pokemon SoulSilver Version selling a combined 3.74 million units in Japan, and Tomodachi Collection 2.74 million units.

Sales of Pokemon Platinum Version reached 3.1 million units worldwide, and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, released in December, has now sold 2.45 million units globally.

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