Earlier today, Nintendo released their financial report for the first three months of fiscal year 2012 (April 2011 – June 2011). Despite launching a new system, the numbers they put up are anything but pleasant. Here are the most interesting tidbits from the report:
-Nintendo’s total sales were 93.9 billion yen ($1.2 billion), a staggering 50.2% drop from the same period last year. Their net income was negative; Nintendo ended up losing 25.5 billion yen ($328.2 million).
-Nintendo is currently worth 1.45 trillion ten ($18.6 billion).
-Despite an expected 900 billion yen ($11.6 billion) in sales, Nintendo only expects 20 billion yen ($257.3 million) in net income this year, and expects to lose money through the next three months.
-Software sales for both the 3DS and Wii were lower as a result of few noteworthy titles; the only games mentioned by name in their Consolidated Operating Results were The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Mario Kart Wii.
-Nintendo is no longer profiting off of 3DS sales, according to Bloomberg Japan; the new $170 price point means the system is now being sold at a loss, and a big portion of their losses came from Nintendo eating what would have been profit from 3DS sales. Other factors for the loss were Nintendo 3DS marketing and Wii U research and development.
-Both hardware and software sales were down by about 50% this year; Nintendo sold 52.6 billion yen ($676.8 million) in hardware, and 40.9 billion yen ($527 million) in software. Non-gaming sales (merchandise, for example) were 337 million yen ($4.3 million).
-Nintendo’s best-performing region was Europe, surprisingly, with 41.2% of sales occurring there, compared to 30.6% in North America and 18% in Japan. North American sales dropped by a whopping 69.2%, to 28.6 billion yen ($369.5 million), compared to losses of 29.6% in Europe and 33.4% in Japan.
-Nintendo spent 14.1 billion yen ($181.5 million) on research and development this quarter, as well as 20.6 billion yen ($265 million) on advertising. By the end of the year they expect to spend 95 billion yen ($1.2 billion) on advertising and 55 billion yen ($707 million) on R&D.
-Total Nintendo 3DS sales came to a mere 710,000 systems around the world this quarter, with 4.53 million software units sold; Nintendo has sold 4.32 million 3DS systems since launch, and 13.96 million games. Nintendo expects to sell 16 million 3DS units and 70 million software titles all year.
-Nintendo sold 1.44 million Nintendo DS units around the world this quarter, with 147.86 million sold life-to-date. They expect to sell 9 million all year. They also sold 12.13 million software units, with 851.62 million sold life-to-date, and expect to sell 65 million all year.
-The Wii was Nintendo’s best-selling system this quarter, with 1.56 million units sold, which Nintendo attributes to the lower price and packed-in Mario Kart Wii. Nintendo expects to sell 12 million this year, and has sold 87.57 million Wii systems life-to-date. For software, 13.44 million Wii games were sold this quarter, with 729.53 million sold life-to-date. Nintendo expects sales of 110 million games this year.
-An interesting note: Wii owners, on average, buy more games than DS owners. The average DS owner has 5.76 DS titles, while the average Wii owners owns 8.33 Wii games. Additionally, the average 3DS owner buys 3.23 games for their system.
I’m surprised that the 3DS did better in Europe than it did in the Americas. Is the price more reasonable across the pond, or is there some other reason for this? Why did sales drop so much in North America specifically?
