Nintendo today posted financial results showing a 19 percent slump in operating profits, which is believed to be due to a lack of demand for the Gamecube console and respective software titles. Although, it's not all doom and gloom - Nintendo have the Wii coming up and DS Lite to hit the rest of the world, and as such expectations for the operating period at the same time next year are set at £521 million!
Quote:However, the group - which faces stiff competition from Sony and Microsoft - said it had enjoyed strong demand for its DS hand-held machines in Japan as game titles such as "Brain Training for Adults" expanded the gaming population beyond teenagers to women and senior citizens.
The brisk DS sales failed to offset slowing demand for the GameCube console, which was launched in 2001.
In a bid to breathe life back into its console sales, Nintendo plans to launch a new machine, Wii, in the final quarter of the year, setting a stage for a three-way battle with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's upcoming PlayStation 3.
Nintendo expects an operating profit about £521 million for the current business year to March 2007, falling short of market expectations.
To clarify, Nintendo -sales- have dropped 19%. Their profit was only a little short of what they were expecting, due to an increased value of the yen and rising interest rates on their cash savings. But still quite high compared to all the other competitors.
