Nintendo posts bigger quarterly loss on poor sales

Japanese video-game maker Nintendo Co. reported a JPY 24 billion ($216 million or roughly Rs. 1,434 crores) loss for January-March Wednesday, bigger than the loss it reported the previous year. Nintendo also said Wednesday that its new game platform codenamed NX will be launched globally in March next year. Some game fans had expected the machine might be shown at the annual E3 electronics show in Los Angeles in June. Quarterly sales fell 26 percent on-year to JPY 78.8 billion ($708 million or roughly Rs. 4,703 crores) as overseas revenues were hurt by a stronger yen. Nintendo racked up a nearly JPY 18 billion quarterly loss the previous year. The Kyoto-based company behind Pokemon and Super Mario games said Wednesday it expects to recover to a JPY 35 billion ($314 million or roughly Rs. 2,086 crores) profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2017. For the fiscal year just ended, it earned JPY 16.5 billion ($148 million), down 61 percent from the previous fiscal year. Recent sales of Nintendo’s Wii U machine have lagged rivals Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4 console and Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox One, including the key year-end holiday shopping season. After years of scoffing at the threat from smartphones, Nintendo did an about face last year and entered an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices. It said its first app for smartphones called Miitomo was doing well since its release in March. The app features customizable avatars called Miis, created using a smartphone camera and then outfitted with virtual fashions. The momentum of Nintendo’s 3DS hand-held game machine has dwindled amid competition from other mobile devices and a lack of hit game software for the 3DS. Nintendo said it will release a major Pokemon software game for the 3DS called “Pokemon Sun/Pokemon Moon” globally ahead of the holidays later this year. Associated Press