Nintendo increases profits during 2nd quarter
by Kit

Sunday, August 1 2004

Sales of GBA attributed to increased revenue.

Nintendo Co. has seen its profits nearly double during the latest quarter, as the Kyoto-based company reported on Wednesday that it had earned 22.6 billion yen (approximately $201.4 million U.S.) for the April-June period, as compared to 11.5 billion yen (approximately $105.2 million U.S.) during the same period last year.

This large increase in revenue is largely due to sales of Nintendo’s Game Boy Advance handheld. During this last quarter, Nintendo managed to sell 2.3 million GBA units (520,000 in North America and 370,000 in Japan), bringing the total to almost 54 million worldwide. The GameCube console by comparison sold only 650,000 units last quarter.

In addition, Nintendo’s software revenue increased more than 10%, from last year’s 38 billion yen to 42 billion yen (approximately $374.4 million U.S.) now. Overall, Nintendo is sticking to its fiscal year forecast for a profit of 70 billion yen (approximately $624.0 million U.S.).

Nintendo hopes to continue its success (to put it mildly) in the handheld market with a new arrival late this year: the Nintendo DS. The DS, which had its name and design finalized yesterday, will have a head start on its main competition, Sony’s PSP, which is slated to launch sometime in early 2005.

--- Kit