On Thursday, Nintendo reported that annual earnings have dropped for the first time in six years. The Wii maker reported a profit of 228.6 billion yen ($2.5 billion) for its fiscal year that ended March 31. That’s an 18 percent decline from last year. Sales also slipped 22 percent year over year to 1.4 trillion yen ($15.4 billion).
Nintendo blamed the weaker financial performance on several factors, including a recent price drop on the Wii, fewer strong Wii titles, appreciation of the yen, and poor global sales.
Demand for the Wii was down in the first part of the fiscal year due to slower consumer spending during the recession. But the company said sales of the game console did rebound over the holiday-shopping season. For the full fiscal year, Nintendo sold 20.5 million Wii consoles compared with 26 million the previous year.
(full story at CNET)