Nintendo lowers annual profit prediction by a third
updated 04:55 pm EST, Thu January 29, 2009
Nintendo lowers outlook
Nintendo on Thursday announced it expects to post a 2008 profit 33 percent lower than it originally expected due to the slowing economy. The predicted difference comes despite the video game maker selling about 1 million more Wii systems than it originally predicted by the end of 2008. When the fiscal year ends at the end of March, Nintendo is expecting to post a profit of $2.5 billion instead of the $3.8 billion it predicted in October.
Apart from the 24 percent rise in the value of the Japanese yen against the US dollar, the game industry blames the change in forecast on a less desirable game lineup than what existed six months ago. Nintendo is coming off a strong third quarter during which sales were 21 percent higher than the same time in 2007, but the sudden economic collapse in the fourth quarter resulted in the lowest overall sales the company has experienced in three years.
