Mario doesn't like losses

As you may recall, Nintendo announced its first annual loss in 30 years in April, as the company faced the music for problems with the 3DS launch and a declining Wii. It's just announced its results for the first quarter of this current financial year and, as anticipated, it's a loss.

In the three months that ended 30th June this year, Nintendo's net loss was just over 17 billion Yen, which a straight currency conversion puts at around $217m USD or £140m GBP. A loss was anticipated as Nintendo has been losing money on 3DS hardware sold, though it has now confirmed that from 25th July that will no longer be the case. The report did confirm that the projected year end profit of 20 billion yen remains unchanged; this suggests that the company isn't surprised or alarmed by the results.

In terms of 3DS sales, they were described as 'robust' in Japan, with 920,000 sales, but the worldwide total of 1.86 million is a concern, as the rest of the world only just matched the sales in Nintendo's homeland. The company has stated that the launch of 3DS XL, and the beginnings of retail downloads with New Super Mario Bros. 2 is expected to improve momentum from the fall onwards outside of Japan. We should also note that in the equivalent quarter last year, when 3DS flopped badly after launch, it sold just 710,000 units worldwide.

Overall, the results are no real surprise, with the notable disappointment being the low momentum of 3DS outside of Japan. It's encouraging news that, at this stage, Nintendo is still projecting the same profit for the year end: much will ride on 3DS XL, big name games and, of course, Wii U.

[source nintendo.co.jp, via eurogamer.net]