For the First Time in Seven years, Nintendo Posts Half-Year Loss

Nintendo has announced that it made a 2 billion yen net loss ($24.7 million, £15.6 million) over the last six months. This compares with this time last year where they saw a 69.49 yen ($84.8m, £53.7m) profit.

Nintendo’s sales for the first half of the year were down 34% to 363.16 billion yen ($4.4bn, £2.8bn) which comes from a drop in sales of both its console and handheld division as well as strong yen. The yen’s high value means that much of the overseas cash Nintendo has (from sales in the US, Europe etc.) will lose value once it’s converted into yen, resulting in the largest chunk of Nintendo’s loss.

They also note that the 3DS has been delayed until March 2011 in the US, meaning that they will miss a hefty chunk of Christmas sales – a huge source of revenue. Nintendo expects a net profit of 90 billion ($1.1bn, £700m) yen on a revenue of 1.1 trillion yen ($13.5bn, £8.5bn). That’s the lowest annual profit forecast in six years, however.

That’s a two-year drop in Wii sales, too, with a 14% drop in hardware and a similar 14% drop in sales. The DS saw a much larger 43% drop in DS sales and software saw a 23% dip.

via: Engadget