Global Sales Mark 17% Growth Over Previous Year

Despite nearly unprecedented strength of the yen against major foreign currencies, Nintendo Co., Ltd. on Thursday (Japan time) reported 9-month (April to December 2008) global sales of 1,536 billion yen, an increase of nearly 17% over the same period in 2007, along with 501 billion yen of operating profits, up 27% from a year ago. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Nintendo Co., Ltd. has exceeded the previous results for the same nine month period. At the same time, recurring and net profits for the same nine month periods each declined about 18% due to 174 billion yen of foreign currency reevaluation losses from assets held in currencies other than Japanese yen (such as bank deposits without forward exchange contracts).

(more…)

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 outsold Wii in Japan for the week ending Sept. 14

On the strength of an aggressive price drop and the release of the popular RPG Infinite Undiscovery, Microsoft sold 28,681 Xbox 360 units in Japan, Famitsu reports. These figures were just enough to pass Wii, which sold 27,057 units.

Sony moved 8,050 PS3 units.

Microsoft has struggled to capture a Japanese audience since joining the console business. The company sold 24 million original Xbox units worldwide before discontinuing the system in late 2006, but only 473,000 were purchased in Japan.

Microsoft has sold approximately 720,000 Xbox 360 consoles in Japan since launching in Dec. 2005. By contrast, Sony has sold more than 2.3 million PS3 consoles in Japan since Nov. 2006, and Nintendo has sold more than 6.7 million Wii consoles in Japan since Dec. 2006.

That’s in billions, folks — more than all profitable public publishers combined. It won’t soothe your hardcore-loving, first-party heart, however. Via Edge