Nintendo Releases Full Q3 Financials

Nintendo has released their financial report, covering sales and other financial information for the past nine months (which is what we’ll be referring to when we say "this period"). Here’s some of the highlights:

• Nintendo’s total sales this period were $13.09 billion, down 23% from the same period last year. Their total income was $2.13 billion, down 9% from last year.
• The Nintendo corporation is worth $19.88 billion, a decrease of less than 1% from March 2009. While their total assets have decreased, Nintendo has hired 335 more people at their various locations around the world, so they clearly don’t feel they’re falling on hard times.
• Nintendo expects that their sales for the entire year (ending March 31, 2010) will be $16.61 billion, which is an 18.4% decrease from last year, but an increase from their estimate three months ago.
• This period, Nintendo gained $24.36 million from sales of items that were not video games. They also spent $365.3 million on research and development (22% more than last year) and $894.5 million on advertising (20% less than last year).
• The big-selling DS games this year were Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver (3.74 million in Japan), Tomodachi Collection, (2.74 million in Japan), Pokémon Platinum (3.1 million globally) and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (2.45 million globally).
• The big-selling Wii games this year were New Super Mario Bros. Wii (10.55 million globally), Wii Fit Plus (10.16 million globally) and Wii Sports Resort (10.16 million globally).
• Concerning DS hardware: 23.35 million DS systems were sold this period; 13.41 million of them were DSi, and 700,000 were DSi XL. To date, 125.13 million systems have been sold, and 16.43 million have been DSi.
• Concerning Wii hardware: 17.05 million Wii systems were sold this period. To date, Nintendo has sold 67.45 million Wii systems.
• Concerning DS software: 121.38 million DS games were sold this period, and 9.19 million of them (8%) were new releases. To date, 688.29 million DS games have been sold, and 43.21 million of them (6%) were new releases at the time.
• Concerning Wii software: Nintendo 156.64 million Wii games this period, and a scant 5.85 million (4%) were new releases. To date, Wii game sales are 509.66 million, with 18.47 million (again, 4%) being new releases.

The low numbers for new releases are good and bad at the same time. It indicates that many Nintendo games have long-term selling power, but it also shows a lack of new releases (especially for Wii). What really intrigues me, though, is the sudden increase in R&D spending. I can’t imagine all that money went into the MotionPlus, especially since they were developing the DSi last year. What is Nintendo working on?