Nintendo sank to a first-half loss, its first in seven years, as a rising yen and long-delayed release of its 3-D gaming machine set the scene for a weak full-year result.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co., which makes Pokemon and Super Mario video games, said Thursday it posted a 2.01 billion yen ($24.7 million) loss for the six months through September. First-half sales dropped nearly 34 percent to 363.2 billion yen ($4.46 billion).
Nintendo last month shocked the gaming world by announcing its much awaited 3DS, a handheld packed with glasses-free 3-D technology, wouldn’t be ready for the year-end shopping season when Nintendo rakes in about two-thirds of its earnings.
It will be released in February in Japan — missing Christmas and then January, a key sales month because of the New Year’s gifts Japanese children get. Releases for Europe and the U.S. will follow in March.
The half-year loss is the first for the maker of the Wii home console and DS handheld since 2003.
Nintendo did not break down quarterly numbers. It posted a 69.5 billion yen profit for April-September 2009.
Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa said the yen’s strength against the dollar, which reduces earnings brought back to Japan, drove down first-half sales by 28.1 billion yen ($345 million).
Because of 3DS delay, Nintendo last month slashed its full-year earnings forecast to 90 billion yen ($1 billion) profit from 200 billion yen ($2.4 billion) profit. That would represent a 61 percent plunge in profit from the previous year.
It is expecting full year sales to drop 23.3 percent year-on-year to 1.1 trillion yen ($13.5 billion).
Nintendo had promised the 3DS for sometime before April next year, and so the announcement is not technically a delay. But its forecasts had assumed the machine would go on sale sooner.
Yuta Sakurai, analyst with Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo, remained upbeat about 3DS,…