A stronger yen and competition from smart phones were the reasons given by Nintendo for its projection of its first annual loss in over three decades. For the fiscal year ending in March, the Big N has expanded its expected loss from ¥20 billion (approx. $260 million) to ¥65 billion (approx. $838 million0. Slashing its fiscal 2012 forecast, overall sales are also expected to fall to ¥660 billion (approx. $8.5 billion), from ¥790 billion (approx. $10 billion).
In a bit of a silver lining to the forecast, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has told the press the Wii U will ship worldwide by this coming Holiday season.
“Nintendo’s profitability may get lower in the long term because people are starting to stay away from video-game consoles,” Tomoaki Kawasaki, a senior analyst at Cosmo Securities Co. in Tokyo with a “neutral” rating on the stock, said before the earnings release. “The yen’s gain is a burden for Nintendo as it hasn’t taken sufficient measures to deal with the impact of the strong currency.”
(via Bloomberg)