Q1 Global 3DS Shipments Soared 162 Percent, But Results Disappoint Outside Japan
Global shipments of the 3DS jumped 162 percent in Q1 ended June 30 from Q1 a year ago to 1.9 million units and cumulative sales of the autostereoscopic 3D handheld videogame system reached 19 million, Nintendo said Wednesday. But the company continued to sell the 3DS at a loss throughout Q1 and said Q1 3DS shipments were weaker than it had hoped outside Japan, where it saw “robust” sales of the system.
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Shipments of the Wii and older DS systems, meanwhile, tumbled year-over-year, and Nintendo reported weaker Q1 revenue than a year ago but a narrower, albeit still significant, loss. Revenue fell 9.7 percent to 84.8 billion yen ($1.1 billion at $1=79.8 yen). Its loss fell to 17.2 billion yen ($215.9 million) from 25.5 billion yen.
As of July 25, 3DS hardware was no longer being sold “below manufacturing costs,” Nintendo said. But that came too late to help the company in Q1. Of the 19 million 3DS systems shipped through June 30, 6.4 million were in the Americas, 6.8 million were in Japan, and 5.8 million were shipped in other markets, Nintendo said. It didn’t say how many were shipped in the U.S., but the vast majority of Americas shipments are in the U.S., while Europe likely made up the bulk of shipments in other regions. Of the 1.9 million 3DSs shipped in Q1, Nintendo said 420,000 were in the Americas, 920,000 were in Japan, and 530,000 were in other markets. Nintendo said it still expects to ship 18.5 million 3DSs this fiscal year.
Global 3DS software shipments grew 63 percent in Q1, year-over-year, to 7.4 million copies and cumulative 3DS software shipments reached 52.8 million copies. Top-selling 3DS titles in Q1 included Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, each released last fiscal year, it said.
Global Wii shipments tumbled to 710,000 units in Q1, from 1.6 million in Q1 a year ago, while cumulative Wii shipments grew to 96.6 million units. Of the units shipped in Q1, Nintendo said 210,000 were in the Americas, 60,000 were in Japan and 440,000 in other markets. Of the Wiis shipped cumulatively through June 30, about 45.9 million were in the Americas, 12.5 million were in Japan, and 38.1 million were in other markets. Nintendo said it still expects to ship 10.5 million Wiis this fiscal year.
Global shipments of DS systems other than the 3DS tumbled to 540,000 from 1.4 million in Q1 last year, while cumulative DS shipments grew to 152.1 million. Of the units shipped in Q1, Nintendo said 400,000 were in the Americas, only 10,000 were in Japan and 130,000 were in other markets. Of the DS systems shipped cumulatively through June 30, 58.2 million were in the Americas, 33 million were in Japan and 60.9 million were in other markets. Nintendo said it still expects to ship 2.5 million DS systems this fiscal year.
Global Wii software shipments tumbled to 8.5 million copies in Q1 from 13.4 million in Q1 last year, while DS software shipments fell to 8.5 million from 12.1 million. Top-selling Wii games included Nintendo’s Mario Party 9, it said. Despite the weak global DS hardware sales, Nintendo said it shipped a combined 2.5 million copies of the latest DS titles in the Pokemon series, Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 in Q1.
Nintendo said it “will strive to take advantage” of the coming release of the 3DS XL system with larger screens than the current 3DS (CED June 25 p4) to “solidly revitalize” the 3DS market this summer and fall. The company said it will also globally start to sell digitally distributed 3DS software starting with New Super Mario Bros. 2. The software will also be sold in packaged form, it said.
Nintendo is also counting on the coming release of the Wii U console late this year to spark demand for its home console hardware in Japan, the U.S. and Europe. It again didn’t give ship dates for the launch in each market. The company said it still expects to report revenue of 820 billion yen for this fiscal year, a 26.6 percent increase from last year, and a return to profit at 20 billion yen.