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Nintendo Joins The Fray – Sees Quarterly Profit Loss
Nintendo – usually in a favorable position as the butt of jokes involving printing money – has managed to avoid the problems plaguing fellow console and software developers since the release of the Nintendo Wii. That’s why the report of a $288.3 million loss for the three-month quarter ending June 30, 2010, is so surprising. The same period last year, Nintendo reported a profit of $484.8 million. Nintendo’s net revenue caps at $2.16 billion, over a 25 percent drop from 2009.
As reported by GameSpot, Nintendo addressed the decreased revenue as a result of declining Nintendo DS sales, as well as stagnant DS and Wii software numbers. Perhaps every potential consumer already owns one (or more) of the DS iterations? Nintendo maintains that Wii hardware sales are still in the green, currently at 73 million units sold worldwide.
Yen strengthening as a currency is also accredited as a factor for the loss, as it’s stabilization conversely decreases the value of overseas currency, and the bulk of Nintendo’s sales come from abroad. Nintendo approximates that over $808 million has fallen victim to foreign exchange losses, which consumed the bulk of their profits and resulted in the quarterly loss.
Nintendo just announced that the 3DS will hit retail in Japan in the coming months, something that will undoubtedly reignite hardware and software sales for the company.
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