Nintendo Cuts Its Annual Profit Forecast In Half Following Sales Slump

There’s more bad news for Nintendo, which has slashed the profit estimate for its financial year by more than 50 percent amid slowing sales and a stronger than expected yen. In an announcement today [PDF], the Japanese firm lowered its net profit forecast from 35 billion yen ($310 million) to 17 billion yen ($151 million).

Overall revenue for the year is tipped to come in at 500 billion yen, that’s around $4.4 billion and 12 percent lower than originally expected. The company’s operating profit forecast was also cut, dropping down one-third to 30 billion yen ($265.7 million).

The re-evaluation follows Nintendo’s Q3 financial results which, released earlier this month, saw profit and income fall by 18 percent and 36 percent year-on-year respectively. Added to that factor, Nintendo said, the Japanese yen has performed stronger than had been forecast which has also cut into its predictions.

Beyond its end-of-year targets, Nintendo also lowered final quarter sales estimates for the Nintendo 3DS and 3DS games, although it did raised expectations for Wii (17 percent) and Wii U (75 percent) games.