Nintendo Sales Up 17 Percent, Cuts Outlook On Strong Yen

Nintendo has seen sales rise by 17 percent in the nine months ended December 31st 2008 -- but the continuing strength of the yen against other major currencies has forced the company to cut its yearly profit expectations by a third. To date, Nintendo's sold ‬96‭.2 ‬million DS consoles, including 1.66 million units of the DSi, with over 533 million software units sold. The currently Japanese-only Pokemon Platinum was identified as one of the biggest sellers of the period, at over 2 million units, alongside Kirby Super Star Ultra. The Wii’s lifetime total now stands at 44.9 million, with over 312 million games sold. Of these Wii Fit and Mario Kart Wii have both now sold over 10 million units worldwide. Major winter titles Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk were described as having "favorable receptions". Revenues hit ¥1.54 trillion ($17.1bn) for the last nine months, with operating profit up 27 percent to ¥501.3 billion ($5.6bn). But the company's net profit fell 18 percent to ¥212.5 billion ($2.4bn). Nintendo says the drop in profits is attributable to the general global economic downturn -- particularly the continuing strength of the yen. As a result, it lowered its full-year forecasts for a second time, reducing net income expectations by 33 percent to ¥230 billion ($2.6bn) -- less than its 2007 total of ¥257.3 billion ($2.9bn). Full year sales estimates have been lowered by 9.0 percent to ¥1.82 trillion ($20.3bn). Operating profit predictions are down by 15.9 percent to ¥530 billion ($5.9bn) -- although both sales and operating profit figures still represent a rise year-on-year.