Alongside this morning's shocking announcement that Nintendo would drop the price of its 3DS handheld system a massive $80 just six months after its release, Nintendo also released its fiscal first quarter earnings, and the news is more than a little grim.
Overall sales were down 50% from the same period in 2010, with a total earning of ¥93 billion ($1.2B). That led to an overall operating loss of ¥38 billion ($489M) for the company. In addition, Nintendo revised its overall profit projection for fiscal 2012 by a hefty margin, projecting a profit of ¥20 billion ($257M). That marks an 82% drop from the ¥110 billion ($1.41B) it had previously projected.
Nintendo has cited a number of factors in explaining the income drop, including stronger-than-expected yen appreciation and its upcoming sales outlook for the holiday season. Above all else though, it appears the far slower-than-expected sales of the 3DS were heavily to blame. The system only sold 710,000 units during the quarter, and 4.53 million pieces of 3DS software sold at retail. [EDITORS NOTE: This story previously said the 3DS had only sold 710,000 units "thus far," which was incorrect. It was 710,000 units during the fiscal quarter. Apologies for that mis-typed statement.]
To compare, other DS systems sold a collective 1.44 million units during the same period, while the Wii, which recently saw its own price drop and bundle adjustment (to include Mario Kart Wii) sold 1.56 million units.