TOKYO Nintendo Co reported a surprise first-quarter operating profit, helped by a weaker yen and strong sales of its “amiibo” figurines which are sold as accessories to their popular games.
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Speculation is growing about the future direction of the Kyoto-based company after its president Satoru Iwata died earlier this month.
“We are pleased this new Wii U exclusive game is capturing the imagination of so many fans across Europe, and look forward to bringing more exclusive titles to both Wii U and Nintendo 3DS this year”.
The company has not announced a successor but Genyo Takeda, one of the lead developers of Nintendo’s Wii console, and senior managing director Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Mario and Donkey Kong hit games, are widely seen as possible candidates. Although this is just short of Nintendo’s projections-and is down from the same period in 2014, when it sold 500,000 units-the figure does push life-to-date sales of the Wii U to 10.1 million.
It also said that it was still on track to post a net profit of 35bn yen on sales of 570bn yen in the year to March 2016. “Nintendo recorded a OP loss of ¥9.5b last year and we believe the losses will be similar in magnitude”, wrote Jefferies’s Atul Goyal ahead of the earnings.
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The company said it still expects its first games for smart devices to be released by the end of the calendar year.
