Nintendo swings to first-quarter operating profit; analysts expected loss

Nintendo posted a profit during the first quarter off strong sales for its line of amiibo figures and the launch of Wii U action title Splatoon. The company’s revenue overall is up by 21% and, thanks to the small improvements in sales for the Wii U, they are finally making some small profit.

The earnings release – and the slow march to 10 million Wii U sales – underscores Nintendo’s ongoing trouble appealing to gamers across the gaming landscape. The company did have some success with the Wii early on, selling millions of consoles while angering fans that couldn’t get their hands on one with their limited shipments.

“The turnaround will happen after Nintendo has launched its first smartphone game”, Atul Goyal, an analyst at Jefferies Group LLC, wrote in a report dated July 28. During this same quarter last year in 2014, the Wii U sold 510,000 Units, marking a 40,000 unit decrease when comparing this year to last year’s sales. The company’s latest console, the Wii U, has been out since 2012 but it has failed to gain popularity. Market experts had predicted losses of more than 6bn yen. Exclusives such as Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will be the primary drivers for sales throughout for the remainder of the year. Hopefully, the Japanese company can sustain their growth despite the recent and unexpected death of CEO and President Satoru Iwata.

Details of its next-generation videogame console, code-named “NX”, are scheduled to be unveiled next year. The power vacuum has left Nintendo without a rudder and shareholders are concerned with where the company will be headed under the leadership of a new executive.

To celebrate this special occasion, we are releasing three classic Kirby games in the Nintendo eShop on Wii U today – Kirby Squeak Squad (Nintendo DS), Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards (Nintendo 64) and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land (Wii).