Nintendo's nine-month profits, sales double up

Nintendo certainly seems to be having a good year so far. The Mario Factory has seen Wii sales hit 5 million in Japan, and was recently praised by analysts for being "the belle of the hardware ball." Stock shortages of the Nintendo Wii console and DS Lite handheld continue to attest to their popularity with consumers in major markets such as the UK, US, and Japan, as they simultaneously raise eyebrows about Nintendo's hardware supply systems.

This demand is certainly having a positive effect on Nintendo's finances. The Japanese firm this morning reported that its nine-month sales revenue, ended December 31, almost doubled, from ¥712.5 billion ($6.7 billion) to ¥1.316 trillion ($12.4 billion) in the same period in 2007. Its net income over the same period was ¥259 billion ($2.4 billion), up from ¥132 billion ($1.2 billion) in 2006.

The Nintendo DS certainly helped those numbers along with 24.5 million units sold during the nine month period, and Nintendo's financial statement also reports that the Wii has passed 20 million units in sales since its launch in 2006. It singled out Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Party 8 as having "robust sales," and said that Wii Sports and Wii Play, which come bundled with the console and extra controller respectively in some regions, had "continued their strong sales performance."

Nintendo also reported "favourable performance" in the sales of DS software, "led by new titles The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Mario Party DS" and backed up by long-term achievers Nintendogs and New Super Mario Bros.

The company clearly feels these strong performances are set to continue--as predicted, Bloomberg reports that it has raised its sales forecast by 5.2 percent to ¥1.63 trillion ($15.3 billion) for the 12 months to March 31, 2008. This represents a gain of 69 percent over the previous year.