Eighty-two percent; that’s how much Nintendo has lowered their FY 2012 profit forecast by. Just brood that over for a second before you read the rest of this article. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
For several years there, it seemed like the world was on the verge of establishing currency rates against Nintendo Bucks as the Big N rode absurd waves of financial success courtesy of the Wii and DS. Now, yeah, not so much. The Kyoto, Japan-based firm has revised its fiscal 2012 forecast to ¥20 billion ($257M), which is down a retarded – seriously, that is the most appropriate descriptor here – amount from ¥110 billion (about $1.4B). The scuttlebutt around the office is that they’ll be repoing all those gold coins and rupees that Mario and Link have accumulated over the years in order to pay their creditors.
Alright, so it’s not actually quite that grim. Twenty billion yen in pure profits isn’t exactly chump change. Nevertheless, 82% is an enormous dip in funds. The whole company might have to move back into Hiroshi Yamauchi’s place in order to save some cash.
Much of the problem stems from the weak performance of the 3DS. Apparently, tales of its money-printing capacities may have been greatly exaggerated. The precise word from the company was that “trends of stronger-than-expected yen appreciation and sales performance, the decided price reduction of the Nintendo 3DS hardware, and the sales outlook for the holiday season.” In case that price drop thing shocked you, head over here for the full details.
Remember that Nintendo is also operating with its stock at a five year low owing to investors balking at the Wii U’s announcement. Additionally, the publisher’s net income plummeted by half to just ¥93 billion ($1.2B) for the quarter ending June 30th. This lead to their operating income dropping by ¥38 billion ($489M). Sorry Iwata, but our profits are in our competitors’ coffers.
[Source: Nintendo]
[Image via Engadget.]
