Nintendo takes credit for industry growth
Says its sales "offset decline" of rivals in US.
Nintendo has issued a bullish press release about January's US sales figures, ignoring the month-on-month declines and focusing on huge year-on-year growth.
The company bluntly stated that the massive increase in its hardware business compared to last January was making the rest of the industry look good.
"While the videogame industry grew by USD 150 million (12 per cent) year-on-year, Nintendo's total sales grew by USD 300 million in January, offsetting declines on other platforms," said the platform holder.
Wii sales were up 148 per cent on last January, and DS sales were up 99 per cent, a remarkable performance from an ageing machine. More than 18 million Wii units have now been sold in the US alone.
Nintendo also noted that half of the software top ten was composed of first-party exclusives for its platforms - with Wii Fit, Wii Play and Mario Kart Wii occupying the top three, and the positively ancient Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros still troubling the lower reaches at 7 and 8.
Nevertheless, Nintendo still slashed its profit forecast last month, due to the strength of the yen and falling demand for the Wii in Japan. Incredibly, it expects to post a 200 billion yen loss this fiscal year. If even Nintendo can't make money in 2009, who can?
Update: The information in the above paragraph is incorrect. Due to the strength of the yen relative to the dollar and euro, Nintendo expects foreign-currency losses to cost it 200 billion yen this fiscal year. It will not post an overall loss of 200 billion yen. Our apologies for any confusion caused.