At an earnings briefing on Wednesday, Japanese video game company, Nintendo, announced that it expects its operating profits in FY 2016-17 to rise 36.9% to 45 billion yen ($404.9 million) from 32.9 billion yen ($300 million) the company had earned in the twelve month period from April, 2015 to March, 2016. The company had announced its FY 2016 earnings earlier in the week. Nintendo is best known for its ‘Wii’ line of gaming consoles and its various derivatives like the Nintendo 3DS line of handheld devices, which succeeded the company’s immensely popular Game Boy lineup that was originally launched in the late 80s. Although Nintendo is expected to launch its ninth-generation gaming console (codenamed ‘NX’) next March, with Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox eclipsing Wii U sales globally, the company has been looking to enter the lucrative mobile gaming market of late.
Nintendo had announced the shift in its strategy last year, having earlier declined to entertain any thoughts of entering the mobile gaming market, which it believed could jeopardize its hardware sales. However, earlier this year, Nintendo launched its first-ever mobile application called Miitomo, which is available on Android as well as on iOS. While the app is already said to have already acquired a steady stream of dedicated followers, many Nintendo loyalists are still waiting on the company to launch its most famous titles like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda on mobile, which is when its revenues from mobile gaming is expected to truly blow up. The company, of course, has already announced that it will be launching as many as four mobile games at some stage in the near future.
While there’s no word right now on the titles that Nintendo may release on mobile, the company’s President, Mr. Tatsumi Kimishima, has now revealed that at least two out of the four games may be launched as early as this autumn. Meanwhile, the company also said that it expects its current-generation gaming console, the Wii U, to sell 800,000 units this financial year, which would be significant decline over the 3.26 million units that were shipped during FY 2015-16. With the next-gen ‘NX’ due to be announced next March, Mr. Kimishima also said that the company may decide to stop producing the Wii U by March, 2018.