Surprising analyst, Nintendo turned in a profit for the most recent quarter on Mario Kart 8 and Wii U sales. The release of the new game led to the purchase of the newer game console for consumers who had previously been reluctant to make the change. Analyst watching the company had expected a loss of 3.7 billion yen for the 2nd quarter. But the company announced a profit of 9.3 billion yen or 86 million US dollars.
The company had been under pressure to make popular characters available on smart phones to boost sales and profits. But the company never made the change, keeping with the approach of only selling games for the companies own hardware. With the profit announcement, the company can withstand demands for some time to come. Look for a strong Christmas season also with the new game launch and consumers upgrading their current systems.
The company has forecasted a profit of 40 billion yen for the year in comparison to analyst expecting only 24 billion yen. This is in comparison to last year when they lost 46.6 billion yen with rising competition from Microsoft, Sega, and handheld device games. Mario Kart 8 was released in May and sales of the game and Wii U devices have been rising steadily since. The company also stated that a weaker yen added to the bottom line for the charter.
Wii U - Mario Kart 8 DLC: Excitebike Arena