Nintendo nine-month sales sink 23.1%, Wii Sports Resort sells 13.58 million

Following a rough 2009, Nintendo today issued its earnings report for the nine months ending December 31. The April to December period saw sales of ¥1,182.1 billion ($13.06 billion), a decline of 23.1 percent compared to the same time frame in 2008. Nintendo's nine-month net profit was ¥192.6 billion ($2.13 billion), down 9.4 percent year over year.

Though Nintendo blamed appreciation of the yen for much of the downfall, another reason for the decline was slowing sales of the DS. From April to December 2009, Nintendo sold 23.35 million units of the dual-screen handheld worldwide, down from 25.62 million during the same period in 2008. The 2009 total included 13.51 million DSis and 700,000 large-screen DSi XLs (currently available only in Japan as the DSi LL).

Wii sales also fell during the nine-month period, going from 20.5 million in 2008 to 17.05 million in 2009. The shortfall came despite Nintendo cutting the Wii's price in September from $250 to $200 in the US, from €250 to €200 in the EU, and from ¥25,000 to ¥20,000 in Japan. (In the UK, the Wii's recommended retail price of £180 remained unchanged, but Nintendo began bundling the console with Wii Sports Resort and the Wii MotionPlus accessory, along with the already standard Wii Sports pack-in.)

In terms of software, some 121.38 million DS games were sold from April to December 2009, down from 163.78 million the year prior. Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver was the top new title, selling 3.74 million units in Japan. (The game launches in March in North America and Europe.) Its forbearer, Pokemon Platinum Version, sold 3.1 million globally, followed by Tomodachi Collection's 2.74 million units. Finally, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks sold 2.45 million copies following its worldwide launch in December.

New Wii games posted higher totals, with Wii Sports Resort selling 13.58 million units worldwide from April to December. Global consumers also scooped up 10.55 million units of New Super Mario Bros. Wii and 10.16 million copies of Wii Fit Plus, the recently introduced reworking of Wii Fit.