Feature: 'Nintendo's Numbers: The State of The Industry'

Author: by Staff

Last Friday, Nintendo Co., Ltd. president and CEO Satoru Iwata, along with other senior management, held an investor briefing for Western investors, to explain the company's financial results, sales trends and its plans for the future. The briefing took place following Nintendo's announced fiscal second quarter results, in which the company raised its forecast for the year, anticipating net sales of ¥1.55 trillion ($13.59 bn) and a net income of ¥275.0 billion ($2.41bn). Along with over thirty slides from the 40-minute presentation that encompass performance for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii and several individual software titles, Gamasutra crunches the numbers to paint a picture of Nintendo's performance this year, during which the company has outdone even its own expectations: "Nintendo's sales in this fiscal year's first two quarters were at the highest they've ever been since 2005 - 2006, almost reaching 2007's third quarter holiday levels. Once again, the Nintendo DS and Wii's global hardware and software success are credited for the rise. Iwata also posits that "the so-called seasonality factor in determining demand has become smaller." Operational profit has matched the increased sales, resulting in quarterly numbers at their highest in the past three years." The data also reveals some interesting facts about software trends specific to each region: "Nintendogs, Brain Training (known as Brain Age in the U.S.), and Brain Training 2 have performed very well in Europe, with sales in some cases outstripping Japan's and showing a notable 'long tail'. While also popular in the U.S., the Brain Training series isn't selling nearly as well in the States. Neither the U.S. nor Europe have experienced the same success as Japan's with the second edition of Brain Training." You can now read the full feature, packed with all of the company's presentation slides and data analysis (no reg. required, please feel free to link to this feature from other websites).