Japanese gaming company Nintendo managed a profit in its third quarter thanks to the weaker yen but also because of the very successful Pokémon games.
Increased profit forecast
Despite lower turnover, from 221.5 billion yen (1.8 billion euro) to 174.3 billion yen (1.43 billion euro), Nintendo still managed an operational profit of 32.3 billion yen (266 million euro), up from 29.1 billion yen (239 million euro). Over the past two quarters, the company even suffered a loss.
Thanks to this profit evolution, Nintendo decided to adjust its profit forecast upward for this fiscal year, to 90 billion yen (740 million euro) instead of 50 billion yen (410 million euro). It did not alter its turnover forecast, which remains at 470 billion yen (3.9 billion euro).
Super Mario Run
The weaker yen, compared to the stronger American dollar, helped Nintendo become profitable, but it also released several best-selling games in the past quarter, including the newest Pokémon games, which sold a combined 14.69 million units. The games also helped boost its hardware sales, because 3.73 million Nintendo 3DS handhelds were sold, compared to 3.6 million units previously.
Its smartphone game, Super Mario Run, was also a huge success: it has been downloaded 78 million times already and about 4 million of these paid 10 euros to access the full game.
