Nintendo Reports Unhealthy Financial Report, Slices Up Profit Outlook

From DailyTech: Nintendo cut its fiscal-year profit outlook by over 50 percent in its latest earnings report -- and some of the other financial numbers aren't looking too swift, either.

For the six months ended September 30, Nintendo reported a net loss of Y27.99 ($350 million USD), which isn't as bad as the Y70.27 billion ($876 million USD) net loss the video game company reported a year ago. However, revenue took a tumble by 6.8 percent to Y200.9 billion ($2.6 billion USD) during the first half of the fiscal year.

Nintendo doesn't report its earnings on a quarterly basis.

For the 2013 fiscal year, Nintendo has significantly cut its profit outlook from Y20 billion ($250 million USD) to Y6 billion ($75 million USD).

Nintendo cited weak 3DS sales for the slash in profit outlook for the fiscal year 2013. The company expected to sell 17.5 million 3DS units and have only sold 5.06 million in the first half, which makes the 17 million look a bit out of reach.

Other Nintendo hardware has declined as well, such as the Wii (1.32 million units sold in the first half of 2012) and the original DS (980,000 unit sales during the same time period). However, software sales seem to be doing well -- it reached 64.45 million sales during the first half. Wii sales may pick up too, since Nintendo just cut the price down to $129.99.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata recognized that cheap gaming on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets has put the company in a difficult place. While devices like the Nintendo 3DS are also mobile, it's much more convenient to carry one device that makes calls, sends texts, accesses the Internet and offers games instead of just one gadget that only offers games. Despite this challenge, Iwata said that Nintendo is sticking with its traditional gaming machines and titles instead of shifting to other methods.

"Certainly, a new competitive environment has been born," said Iwata. "But we have no plans to use our valuable resources for smart devices."

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