Nintendo Co Ltd returned to the black in its third quarter, beating analysts forecast and is expected to record a better performance at the end of its financial year ending March 31. The company announced a JPY64.7 billion (US$569 million) profit on the back of revenue totaling JPY174.3 billion (US$1.5 billion), Tech Crunch reported.
The result was bolstered by the popularity of Pokemon Go, which helped sales of Nintendo's own Pokemon games, the website added. Thanks to the augmented reality game, Nintendo had seen its Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon games for the 3DS console generating US$14.69 million in sales since their November launch.
Reuters wrote that Nintendo expects an operating profit of JPY20 billion yen (US$176 million) for the financial year, and hopes that its mobile offerings first introduced last December will attract new players to its consoles. The Super Mario Run which was launched for iOS saw 40 million downloads in the first four days and the game will be available on Android next month.
Also to be released in March is the Switch, Nintendo's first console in four years. The firm is projecting an initial shipment of two million units by the end of the first month. Analysts however are still skeptical of how the new console would perform, based on its more expensive pricing and the limited number of games available, the newswire article added.
Although Nintendo's foray into mobile games has created a new market for Nintendo, the proportion of people opting to buy the game fell below the company's expectations of a double-digit conversion rate, Bloomberg reported. Analysts expect Nintendo to focus on Switch sales to drive its earnings, as sales of other consoles such as Wii U and 3DS decline.
The same reported said that with some 75 percent of its revenue is generated outside Japan, Nintendo would also benefit from the stronger dollar. The company now expects the Japanese currency to trade at JPY110 to a dollar, compared to a previous projection of JPY100 per dollar.
