It looks like Nintendo may finally be pulled of its perch as the No.1 video game console company in the world. It announced April to September 2009 earnings and part of the data the firm gave out is that it only sold 5.75 million units of its flagship Wii product. That compares with 10 million in the same period the year before.
Nintendo’s profit for the six months was $772 million down 52%. The consumer electronics company also cut its full-year profit forecast by over 15%. It said that a strong dollar and price cuts on the Wii would hurt results.
Recent data from research firm NPD showed that Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) PS3 have begun to pick up market share. Microsoft and Sony have both made aggressive price cuts as the holidays approach and those cuts have already help improved sales in September.
Nintendo still hopes to sell 20 million units of the Wii in the current fiscal year which includes the Christmas shopping period. But, hitting big numbers is no longer a sure bet for the company.
Microsoft and Sony have added more and more interactive and home entertainment features to their machines. A number of popular video game titles for the two platforms have launched in the last several months and that should help Xbox 360 and PS3 sales as well.
For the first time in a long time, the Wii may not be the best-selling console of the last quarter of the calendar year..
Douglas A. McIntyre
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