Nintendo annual revs hit $18.5 billion, profits up 8.5%

Despite the grim news coming from some in the gaming world, Nintendo hasn't been feeling the pinch like other companies. Aside from some stock volatility, the Wii maker has continued to post record sales and significant profits.

Today the Mario factory released its financial results for its fiscal year ended March 31, and the company reported sales of more than ¥1.83 trillion ($18.5 billion, £12.2 billion) and operating profits of ¥555 billion ($5.64 billion, £3.72 billion). After taxes and extraordinary expenses, Nintendo's net income for the year wound up at ¥279 billion ($2.83 billion, £1.87 billion), a rise of 8.5 percent on last year's figures, though falling slightly short of analyst expectations.

Nintendo also announced sales figures for its consoles, with 26 million Wii systems sold for the fiscal year, pushing lifetime sales beyond 50 million and reaching that milestone faster than any other console, according to the publisher.

The company's handheld also enjoyed incredible sales, with 31 million DS units sold, pushing lifetime sales past 100 million units and edging ever closer to the PlayStation 2's 136-million sales mark. Again, Nintendo touted the handheld as having achieved the milestone faster than any other game system in history. Software sales also rose for both the Wii and DS, with 197 million DS and 204 million Wii games sold.

As for specific games, Nintendo singled out sales of Pokemon Platinum (3.75 million) and Kirby Super Star Ultra (2.36 million), noting that those games didn't see release in Europe during the fiscal year. Bolstering the company's strategy of pursuing evergreen games were sales of the Brain Age series. Between the two DS installments, Brain Age sold 7.31 million copies during the year, pushing lifetime sales to 31.12 million.

The Wii also saw its share of sales success stories, none of which were bigger than Wii Fit. The Balance Board peripheral pack-in managed to sell 16.37 million for the year, bringing its lifetime total to 18.22 million worldwide. Slightly less popular was Mario Kart Wii, which sold 15.4 million copies packed in with the Wii Wheel peripheral. Nintendo also released sales for its two big holiday releases, Animal Crossing: City Folk (3.38 million) and Wii Music (2.65 million).

Nintendo also gave projected sales figures for the coming year, estimating that another 26 million Wiis and 30 million DSs will be sold. As for software, the publisher expects consumers to snap up 220 million Wii games and 180 million DS games.