This morning, Nintendo announced its sales performance for the three quarters (the past 9 months) of the fiscal year ending in March 2008. By December 31st, their sales nearly doubled compared to the same period last year, soaring from $6.7 billion in 2006 to $12.4 billion (1.63 trillion yen). Net income also rose from $1.2 billion last year to $2.4 billion. DS unit sales reached 65 million units, while Wii surpassed 20 million units. Last year was undoubtedly a great time for Nintendo. In Japan, Wii sales reached 5 million units and were referred to by analysts as the "Queen of the Ball in the gaming hardware sector." The continued shortage of Wii and NDSL units in places like the UK and the US fully demonstrated Nintendo's popularity in the market. At the same time, this also led to constant questioning of Nintendo's hardware supply system. Nintendo's handheld game console, the DS, sold 24.5 million units during these 9 months. The latest financial report shows that global Wii sales have also exceeded 20 million units. Meanwhile, games such as "Wii Fit," "Super Mario Galaxy," and "Mario Party 8" all achieved remarkable sales figures. Games bundled with the console and controllers, such as "Wii Sports" and "Wii Play," also maintained strong sales trends. Nintendo also announced that in terms of DS game sales, "new games led by 'The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' and 'Mario Party DS'" followed by long-selling software like "Nintendogs" and "New Super Mario Bros." The company predicts that this strong performance will continue. According to Bloomberg Economic News, Nintendo has raised its sales forecast for the soon-to-end 2007-2008 fiscal year (ending on March 31, 2008) by 5.2% to $15.3 billion, indicating their confidence in improving fiscal year performance by 69% over the previous year. Below are the unit sales numbers for October to December (cumulative figures in parentheses):
DS Console:
Japan: 5.64 million units (21.66 million)
North America: 8.44 million units (20.18 million)
Other regions: 10.24 million units (22.94 million)
Total: 24.5 million units (64.79 million)
DS Software:
Japan: 33.34 million copies (108.45 million)
North America: 51.14 million copies (109.16 million)
Other regions: 62.41 million copies (113.25 million)
Total: 146.89 million copies (330.87 million)
Wii Console:
Japan: 2.99 million units (4.99 million)
North America: 6.47 million units (8.85 million)
Other regions: 4.83 million units (6.3 million)
Total: 14.29 million units (20.13 million)
Wii Software:
Japan: 10.71 million copies (16.83 million)
North America: 46.41 million copies (60.9 million)
Other regions: 27.23 million copies (35.46 million)
Total: 84.35 million copies (113.19 million)