Nintendo reports first-half loss for 2012

Wii U
Can it turn around Nintendo's fortunes?

In the first half of this year, Nintendo's net sales decreased almost 7 percent compared to the same period last year. That's according to stats from the Japanese gaming giant.

Sales were down 6.8 percent, while net income is on the way down as well. It fell by 27,996 million yen, which is around £220 million.

This continues the trend we saw at the end of the last financial year, which saw Nintendo post its first ever loss. It lost more than $530 million (£331 million) on $8 billion (£5 billion) in revenue.

So it's an improvement on last year, but still a loss.

As a result of this continuing loss, Nintendo has slashed its profit forecast for the year by a third. It expects annual profits of 20 billion yen (£158 million), down from its July forecast of 35 billion yen.

You can read the full report here.

Up to last month, Nintendo has sold more than 22 million 3DS consoles (that's 3 million more than since the last quarter). The Wii has sold just short of 100 million units in its lifetime, racking up 97.2 million sales.

Wii U-turn?

Nintendo has a lot riding on its next console, the Wii U. It made its debut back at E3 last year, then Nintendo showed it off again this year, this time with a redesigned controller. It's had a bit of a cool reception so far though, so it'll be crunch time for Nintendo when it launches.

Via Engadget

Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.