Nintendo's Q1 DS sales down 44 per cent

By Robert Purchese Published 29 July, 2010

While Mario Galaxy 2 sells over 4m.

Nintendo lost money during the three months ended 30th June 2010, with worldwide DS sales down 44.7 per cent year on year to 3.15 million, while DS software sales slumped 22.9 per cent to 22.42 million.

The platform holder blamed "fewer new software titles", a lowering of the DS price and hefty foreign exchange losses for the losses.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 provided the only noted silver lining, recording 4.06 million sales worldwide since its May/June release. That helped Wii hardware sales climb by over a third compared to the same period last year.

The company recorded a net loss of 25.2 billion yen (£183 million). Net sales were down 25.6 per cent to 188.6 billion yen, with 86.6 per cent of that figure attributed to "overseas" markets. That meant a staggering foreign exchange loss of 70.5 billion yen (£517 million).

As mentioned, Wii sales were up 36.6 per cent to 3.04 million. However, Wii software dropped 9.3 per cent to 28.17 million.

"Nintendo continues to pursue 'Gaming Population Expansion' based on the idea of putting smiles on many people's faces by offering brand new entertainment that anyone can enjoy, regardless of age, gender or gaming experience," the company commented.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Widge #1 2 years ago

    EVERYONE OWNS ONE NOW

  • DonnieDarko333 #2 2 years ago

    Note to Nintendo...release the 3DS in Europe...THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

  • Kami #3 2 years ago

    Saturation point in sales I guess. Only so many you can sell before, as Widge says, everyone has one or two and the sales drop off.

    Or it could be we're waiting for the 3DS.

    I know I am!

  • geeza2020 #4 2 years ago

    is the casual gaming bubble about to burst?

    I nearly turned into a giant ball of cheese after reading the last paragraph of the article.

  • Widge #5 2 years ago

    Could be saturation point, market has a shed load of Wii's out there now. Buy a new one or buy one second hand cheaper? Could very well be swapping to that point where the second hand market is taking over.

  • gamefan #6 2 years ago

    Think Widge is right, saturation point. I bought my second hand Wii (USA) for £46 on Ebay (and yes is was complete and perfect nick)

  • Mkwone #7 2 years ago

    So the point of this is that nintendo should make shoddy hardware that breaks and thus people will need to buy replacements?

  • Headless_Monkey_Boy #8 2 years ago

    sales were always going to start too drop off sooner or later, but given that every console is sold for a pfrofit i doubt Nintendo are too worried about the figures. And Nintendo still seeem to be flogging the gimmiky perpheral idea that'll help sustain sales for another 6 months or so (whenever the pulse thing comes out). The big N must be rolling in hte dosh they've made.

  • lockload #9 2 years ago

    haha

  • Spuzzell #10 2 years ago

    Exchange loss of £517 MILLION!?!?!

    What the hell is going on with the yen? That's just mental, Nintendo should instantly relocate to Switzerland.

  • BuddyChrist #11 2 years ago

    People are scared of buying ds anything.

    get the 3ds and you'll miss out on the 3ds slim micro ltd edition red jumbo screen super teabagging ultra model- rendering all else obsolete....

  • dr_faulk #12 2 years ago

    I think Nintendo should accrue in their books for my interest in the 3DS. This is the first console in years that I'm genuinely excited about, and I think it's going to be as much fun as the DS.

    I was thinking this yesterday: what happens when the likes of Operah / Richard & Judy et al do pieces on the 3DS? They'll say things like, "Unfortunately our cameras can't pick it up, but you have to see it to believe it!" This may usher in the old hype of kids queuing in shops to get a peek over the shoulder (which won't work!), rather than having every media outlet bombard them with images.

    "You have to see it to believe it!" That's going to send Nintendo further into the black.

  • RandomRash #13 2 years ago

    My friend has never bought a wii game he downloads them from the internet, saves them to the harddisk then connects it to the wii for his children, I'm not sure how much of an impact that has, can you get copied games for 360, PS3, is it still possible.

  • Raiko101 #14 2 years ago

    I think its near impossible to pirate PS3 games at the moment, however its easily possible with the Wii and 360. The Wii's biggest problem is gamers. Most gamers I know moan about the Wii and its apparent lacking of quality games, but yet they sit on top of 100's of copied Wii games, a lot of which I know they enjoy. They're just trying to find excuses not to spend even more money on games.

  • Malek86 #15 2 years ago

    I know it's because of external conditions, but still it's pretty weird to see Nintendo, the company who sells the most consoles (even if their peak days are long gone), being the only one to post a loss.

  • Praetorianer #16 2 years ago

    via gamesindustry:

    "Nintendo took a one time $794 million foreign exchange loss which is what resulted in the overall $288 million loss.

    This is only the second time in company history to have a quarterly loss and both were for the exact same reason."

    So, although the market may be saturated and all that, they're still making lots profit. I think the 3DS will make get a pre-xmas launch in Japan and from that point on they'll be printing money again, just like when the DS took off.

  • drxym #17 2 years ago

    Over saturation, piracy, platform stagnation, prices, competition (from smart phones) and an abundance of shovelware all play their part.

  • JeremyRPS #18 2 years ago

    It seems like the calm before the storm (for the competition) because once the 3DS comes out, Nintendo is going to see some serious profit, and dominate the marketplace for quite awhile.

  • Acrid #19 2 years ago

    Did they actually lose money or did they just not make as much as they expected?

  • Bartacus #20 2 years ago

    DS is old & looking tired, time to move on greedy Nintendo.

  • Basoy #21 2 years ago

    Everyone owns one? What about the PS2?

    'Saturation' always features in the comments of a DS/Wii sales drop news article. It's the Prachter factor. You're bound to be right eventually.

  • smelly #22 2 years ago

    >Note to Nintendo...release the 3DS in Europe...THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

    But only if you have enough quality games to do so...