Increased Profits For Nintendo

Thanks to global sales of the Wii, Nintendo has reported an 8.5% increase in annual profits, to $2.81 billion.

All over the world, companies are reporting falling sales and profits. But not Nintendo. Thanks to the continuing popularity of the Wii games console, its annual profits have risen by 8.5%, to $2.81 billion. In the previous financial year its profits were $2.6 billion.

Notably, though, the rise in profits was far less than it a year ago –back then it was a staggering 47.7%.

In a statement, the company said:

"[While] the future of economies around the world is still unclear, the video game industry was less impacted by the economic downturn than most [and] remained relatively stable in spite of the large consumer spending decline."

It expects net income to rise again next year, thanks to the continued demand for the Wii and the handheld DS unit. Last year Nintendo sold 25,950,000 Wii consoles and 31,180,000 DS machines, although it expects those numbers to dip a little in the coming year or remain steady.

The company is also working on more software titles.