Nintendo has returned to profit, posting a 7.1 billion (£46.8 million) net profit for the year ending March 31.
This figure is up from the previous year’s 43.2 billion yen loss (£284 billion), but still fell short of the 14 billion yen (£92 million) predicted by Nintendo in January.
However, on an operating level, the company faces a loss of 36.4 billion yen (£239 million), higher than original estimates of 20 billion yen (£131 million) “primarily due to the sales of Nintendo 3DS and Wii U being weaker than expected,” according to Nintendo.
“While foreign exchange gains in non-operating income increased, ordinary income and net income became smaller than forecast,” said the company.
Despite this, Nintendo was optimistic about the net profit achievable in the current fiscal year, expecting to earn 55 billion yen (£361 million) by March 2014, which is the equivalent of an eight-fold jump for the current figures.
To do so, Nintendo plans to concentrate on the Nintendo Wii U, attempting to overcome game delays that are dampening sales, “in order to regain momentum for the platform.”
The Nintendo Wii U has the potential to be a successful console, but suffers from a lack of great gaming titles that utilise the dual-screen functionality of the GamePad.
It also has very strong competition from rival consoles the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, despite containing newer hardware.
All three consoles are now faced with competition from the increasingly popular app-based mobile games that are much cheaper than traditional console games and sometimes free.
Nintendo also announced that Nintendo President Satoru Iwata would be taking over the responsibilities of the company’s American CEO. Tatsumi Kimishima, the current Nintendo US CEO, is being promoted to a general manager within Nintendo Co. Ltd.
The role expansion for Iwata is part of what Nintendo is calling enhanced “organisational agility”.
Via: Telegraph
