Nintendo's first-half profit falls 59 percent, cuts forecast

TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd reported a 59 percent decline in first-half profit on Thursday, hurt by sluggish demand for its flagship Wii videogame console and the strong yen, and it slashed its full-year forecast.

Nintendo, which faces stiff competition in the videogame market from Sony Corp, and Microsoft Corp, said operating profit was 104.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion) in the April-September half, compared with 252.2 billion yen a year earlier.

Nintendo cut its operating profit forecast for the year to March 2010 by nearly a quarter to 370 billion yen, ending a three-year run during which it booked a record profit on booming demand for its Wii console and DS portable device.

[Gandalf]

But in other news....

http://stillprintingmoney.y...

[darkmurder]

Nintendowned Wii

[ABizzel1]

And the sad part is that the Wii is still selling as much as the PS3 and 360. But so much for your high horse Nintendo the kids and the nanna's all got you so come back down to earth.

[cheapndirty]

In other news...Nintendo still makes more money than Sony and MS own gaming divisions even after the slide.

[raztad]

Honest question: How do you know that?

[crck]

It would be hard for Nintendo not to. Take Uncharted 2 and Super Mario Bros Wii for example. I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo spent 1/8th of what Sony and Naughty Dog spend on Uncharted 2. I mean SMBW could probably be made on the SNES. Yet SMBW is going to probably sell at least double what Uncharted 2 does. Lets face it Nintendo lives the easy life. Everyone including reviewers just give them a pass on story, presentation and graphics for their games. Its a double standard where Nintendo gets a free ride on just about everything and only gets judged on gameplay. While other companies and games have to bring it all or they get marked down. Can you imagine how Uncharted would have been ridiculed if they replaced all the voice work with written text and changed all the voices to beeps like Nintendo's games? They would have been laughed out of the review offices.

[Shendow]

Maybe more then Microsoft, but not Sony, Sony owns to many things.

[cheapndirty]

Well, if you study the sum of all of the quarterly reports for this year it will be obvious that as of the most recent quarterly filings ,that Nintendos YTD profit is higher than MS and Sony's gaming divisions. Of course, we are about to end another quarter so something MIGHT change. I can provide you links and other detailed information if you wish.

I follow Sony, MS, and Nintendo from the financial angles. Since so many of you on n4g.com are oblivious to what is really going on with Sony here is a nice link for you from none other than Sonyinsider.com

http://www.sonyinsider.com/...

Sony is struggling as a whole. Some of their divisions are making them money but that is all erased when the others division bring it down.

[nycredude]

Cheapndirty

Dude you don't need a link to find that out. We are in a world wide recession and people usually don't buy high end electronics during recessions.

In other news, Lehman is gone, the market crashed, investor confidence is down... blah blah blah.. All american companies are begging for taxpayer money... Real Estate sucks, Housing boom is dead.. blah blah blah...

Thanks for the tremendous insight but who the hell cares?! This thread isn't about SOny or MS, it's about Nintendo. Why are you bringing all that other crap up? Oh I get it just another stealth Hater. Either that or a closet Wii fan..

"Who are you to decide what the gaming community should and should not be? I await an intelligent response."

Seriously, are you a Nintendo spokeperson or something?

[cheapndirty]

I will respond to you even though it is obvious you did not read my first post to understand why I did the response.

Nintendo is shining this generation of consoles in terms of profitability. In spite of that most people on this site refuse to mention Nintendo in any other way other than in a negative fashion. Look at the comments..sore losers waiting for Nintendo to fall, refusing to give credit where credit is due. If your reading comprehension skills were up to par you would have deduced that. Guess not today.

You lost all credibility with this comment "Dude you don't need a link to find that out. We are in a world wide recession and people usually don't buy high end electronics during recessions". You are clueless, just like many of the others here. So if 'people usually don't buy high end electronics during recessions" is accurate why did Sharp just post a PROFIT? They are also a Japanese company and have to deal with the strength of the yen like Sony? http://www.etaiwannews.com/...

And to further clarify how ridiculous your thought process is have this: http://www.moneynews.com/co...
Samsung just posted record profits. Samsung and Sharp sell many of the same 'high end electronics that people don't usually buy in a recession' that Sony sells.You can not explain with anything other than 'I am another obnoxious n4g ignoramus and post crap better than I think'.

I am not partial to one company or another, but am partial towards keeping the facts straight. And judging by your posting history that is something that you cant not seem to get right too often. Your post here is the latest proof.

[sikbeta]

lol kid, and what you gain knowing that, N pays you with that money, obviously they get money because never take any risks and never make a Mature game, Man Mario is getting so old that make Halo so new and fresh lol

[cheapndirty]

Nintendo does not take risks? That is entertaining. The Wii was expected to fail with Motion controls. In fact, most third partys were slow to develop for the Wii because they did not expect it to do well.

For those that actually followed Nintendo before the Wii launched, know that most people were skeptical about the Wii even having a chance.

Motion controls were a HUGE RISK for Nintendo. You can only say otherwise because of hind sight. Nintendo bet the console farm on motion controls and won big. That sounds like the biggest risk taker compared to 'more of the same Sony and MS'.

[sikbeta]

One Risk in like what 2 generations (N64 - GC), and after being first in the 8 + 16 Bits Era, If It was for Ninentedo we still be playing with cartridges games

That's why I always support Playstation like every real gamer 3 consecutive Generations and you want to know why Nintendo don't take any risk anymore:

[KingKionic]

Nintendo took the biggest risk in History and in return became more wealthy .

Nintendo to a risk to test the casual crowd and it paid off immensely .

Imagine if Nintendo was wrong about motion controls .

THey would have been bombed into the ground .

Nintendo is the kind of company that plants seeds then other companies follow
.

[sikbeta]

Blind motion control fanboy, now Nintendo is the only one that take risk, delusional at is best

Motion Control is a Plus for games but is not the main core for the game itself

How far you can experience gaming with the wii, the Gamecube is 100 times better than your lovely motion console and that console had the power to rival the PS2, but this Gen they took one risk and became so popular, but what they bring to gamers, motion Mario, motion Zelda (the most respectful franchise owned by Nintendo, what a shame)

Everyone always expect those franchises from a N console and then what, Resident Evil 4, GOD open your eyes, this Gen they don't bring nothing to you

[KingKionic]

Games are suppose to be fun .

There are a lot fun games on the wii . Also more mature ones .

Nintendo said that they will focus a lot more on the hardcore .

They do have hardcore titles...they dont sell as amazing as there competition though .

[Shendow]

I was more of the lines saying Sony is bigger an got more money because they own alot more then Nintendo does, if you knew how to read, then you would know what I said.

If Sony games an the PS3 start doing bad, they got movies, cds and much more to fall back on to support them and Nintendo doesn't really have that kind of support.

Plus Wii sales aren't doing as good as they use to, that just means the Wii is done for this year because everyone wants HD gaming and the two other systems got that an PS3 has the controller.

[cheapndirty]

I need to learn how to read? Below is your comment:

" was more of the lines saying Sony is bigger an got more money because they own alot more then Nintendo does, if you knew how to read, then you would know what I said.

If Sony games an the PS3 start doing bad, they got movies, cds and much more to fall back on to support them and Nintendo doesn't really have that kind of support. "
Those are your words that you posted after I PROVED that even with 'more money' and 'movies,cds,and much more to fall back on' Sony still lost money AGAIN this quarter. Somehow you think that when a company has its hands in many pies that will always lead to profitability. Not always the case. It often leads to exposure to losses.

I simply stated that Nintendos sales can drop but will still be more profitable than Sony or MS.

And to you SIKBETA: You contradict your own posts so I wont even bother responding to you. You fit in very well with many of the ng4 regulars. And what is funny about you, you clueless fanboy, is that you never bought the launch ps3. I would at least respect and validate your fanboyism and overlook your ignorance if you at least supported your beloved Sony at launch.

[Somnipotent]

the fad begins to fade...

[v1c1ous]

they now make only bajillion gazillion dollars in profits :(

[I am Legend]

*single tear falls across face*

[PotNoodle]

Everyone who wanted a wii now has wii, and thanks to the PS3 and 360 price cuts.. people are looking towards them.

The wii was great for the games industry, it was a gateway drug for many soon to be gamers who now want a 360 or PS3.

[tdrules]

10 year strategy comes to mind...

[cheapndirty]

I hope Sony can recoup the massive losses(3 billion) they took on the hardware R&D over ten years. Hopefully the yen comes down in strength to help.

[sikbeta]

Typical Fanboy response, what If Sony do it, I will win something about that, I'm not a shareholder and you either, so it doesn't matter to you, I want to have the best games, not be happy because a company make more money like you

xbox fanboys are happy with xbox losing money because they know M$ has more money, so they are happy with a millionarie company

wii fanboys are happy because Nintendo is making money and another company was losing money, so wii fanboys now are not so happy cuz Sony is making profit, weird

I thought wii gamers enjoy games not Nintendo money bank accounts lol

[CaulkSlap]

They deserve bankruptcy and all their management in destitute poverty for bringing the Wii down on the gaming community. Such a worthless piece of garbage surviving entirely on an overhyped gimmick.

[cheapndirty]

Who are you to decide what the gaming community should and should not be? I await an intelligent response.

[Chubear]

Guess it's time for a new Mario @[email protected]

[sikbeta]

Man, that Picture freaks me out...

[evilmonkey501]

That there are really no games....just activities...

[EvilTwin]

Of course Nintendo's profits fell. The gaming industry hasn't been in great shape this year, especially through this past summer:

"The US game industry began August on a low note, after suffering double-digit declines in March, April, May, June, and July. Unfortunately, it ended the month on the downside as well, with combined sales of non-PC game hardware, software, and accessories dropping 16 percent year-on-year to $908.72 million. That was a slight improvement from July, which saw a dramatic 29 percent year-on-year drop and $848.9 million in sales."
http://www.gamespot.com/new...

Last month finally ended the nose dive, but barely:
http://www.gamespot.com/wii...

The Wii caught lightning in a bottle before. Those numbers aren't common and they most likely aren't coming back; the console is too late in its life cycle for that. The Wii's best days for sales are behind it.

But it's far ahead this gen, it's not likely to be caught by either Sony or Microsoft, and Nintendo has made a profit on every Wii console sold. Plus, their "down" numbers from last month were almost as good as some of the best numbers the PS3 has put up this gen. That's not a bad place to be. It's not the same high perch, but no one stays on top of the mountain forever.