July 27, 2016

Sigh

Of course, just days after I point out that Nintendo has been consistently profitable for a while, they post a loss. Just my luck.

It should be noted, though, that this is not indicative of a problem with the console market as a whole. The PS4 and Xbox One are still outselling their predecessors, with the PS4 doing particularly well. Instead, this is the result of Nintendo transitioning to a new console generation. Nintendo announced the NX, the Wii U's successor, back in April, which flatlined software sales, and cratered hardware sales. What's more, Nintendo has not released any major games for the Wii U since around February,1 instead apparently opting to focus on developing for the NX.

What's more, Nintendo's mobile game Miitomo is underperforming, with Nintendo's whole smart devices section contributing just $15 million to this quarter.

Obviously, not releasing any games for your current console, telling people that they'll soon be able to buy a totally new console, and hoping that a mobile game will save your bacon, is not good for your bottom line.

  1. No, I don't think Star Fox Zero, released in April, counts as a major game. ↩︎

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