Nintendo Q1: 160k Wii Us sold, ¥8.6 billion net income

News by Dave Cook Contributor

Published on July 31, 2013

Nintendo's financials for the three months ending June 30 have shown flagging sales of ¥81.5 billion, with the total number of global Wii U hardware sales for the quarter at just 160,000.

In the company's financial report, Nintendo confirmed that the ¥81.5 billion ($832.6m / £547.5m) net sales figure was down 3.8% on the same quarter last year, which raked in ¥84.8 billion.

The report adds that gross profit hit ¥36.4 billion, net profit hit ¥8.6 billion, and 63.7% of total net sales came from overseas markets. By contrast, Nintendo incurred a net income loss of ¥17.2 billion in the same quarter last year.

This year saw operating income of ¥4.924 billion down from last year's ¥10.331 billion, suggesting that Nintendo's decision to stay away from E3 and focus on internet campaigns like Nintendo Direct has helped the company trim some fat.

The company now forecasts net sales for the fiscal year ended March 2014 at ¥920 billion and net income at ¥55 billion.

Wii U

The report states that Wii U hardware sales for the quarter were 0.16 million units (160,000) while software hit 1.03 million.

An excerpt reads, "Although the Wii U hardware sales still have a negative impact on Nintendo's profits, gross profits were ¥36.4 billion mainly owing to the fact that the proportion of the software sales over net sales increased and the profitability of the Nintendo 3DS hardware improved.

3DS & Software Overall

In software, Nintendo's biggest-hitter for the quarter was Animal Crossing: New Leaf on 3DS at 1.54 million units sold worldwide, followed by Luigi's Mansion 2: Dark Moon at 1.43 million units and Tomodachi Collection at 1.39 million units.

Incredibly, Animal Crossing: New Leaf has sold 5.4 million copies since its initial launch in Japan.

No Wii U title passed the one million sales mark.

For incoming game releases in Japan, The Legend of Zelda Wii U is now pegged for an 'Early 2014', Mario Kart 8 is still down for Spring, Super Mario 3D World is still simply a 'End of 2013' release, while Yoshi's New Island remains undated.

2014 will also yield the Japanese release of Bayonetta 2, Yarn Yoshi, Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and "A brand new title from Monolith Software Inc."

Moving onward, the report states that Nintendo will help more Japanese studios release their games overseas and that it will continue to ramp up digital sales in an effort to improve profitability.