March sales decline hits Nintendo stock
Fils-Aime insists business is healthy, but shares fall over 6 per cent
Shares in Nintendo have dropped significantly following the decline of Wii hardware sales in the US.
The company lost 6.6 per cent and closed at JPY 26,180 – the biggest fall for two months – as NPD data showed that Wii sales were down 17 per cent year-on-year to 601,000 units.
"The severe sales result in the U.S. prompted disappointment among investors," said Shigeo Kikuchi, of Takagi Securities, reports Bloomberg. “Nintendo had been perceived as one of the winners.”
Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the only hardware in the market to buck the trend, with sales up 25 per cent to 330,000 units.
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America, blamed the decline in Wii sales on the company's release schedule.
"Our launch schedules are more spread out so we’re going to have these tough comparisons month to month," said Fils-Aime.
"But if you look at the overall trend of our business, it continues to be very healthy."