Nintendo the struggling games Company that a lot of people have forgotten is back pumping out new products.
Overnight the Company said that they will release new smartphone games in the last quarter in Australia, and a new videogame system in March 2017.
For many the console is “way too late” claim analysts.
Nintendo announced the news in Japan last night at the same they reported declining revenue and profit, highlighting the company’s need to rejuvenate aging product lines.
At a news conference, Chief Executive Tatsumi Kimishima declined to say much about the next system, code-named NX, including whether it would be a hand-held device or a console. He said the new smartphone releases would feature role-playing franchise Fire Emblem and the community simulation game Animal Crossing.
The schedule falls behind the consensus of analysts, who had expected at least one new smartphone game by June and the NX by the end of this year to catch Christmas shoppers.
The next new game in the “Legend of Zelda” franchise will launch simultaneously on the NX and Wii U consoles, Nintendo said.
“Nintendo will continue to be in trouble because it has no big money-maker coming for now,” said Serkan Toto, an industry consultant based in Tokyo.
Nintendo said that net profit for its fiscal year ended in March dropped 61% $148 million and revenue fell 8% to ?504.5 billion, owing in part to the yen’s recent strength and weaker sales of its five-year-old hand-held 3DS device.
Nintendo said it expected revenue to be roughly flat and net profit to rise in its current fiscal year, helped by smartphone games and its Amiibo game-compatible figurines.
The company said it expects to sell fewer units of the 3DS and its current flagship console Wii U this fiscal year because it expects consumers to rein in spending ahead of the coming NX.
It estimates five million units of the 3DS will be sold in the year ending March 2017 compared with 6.79 million in the previous term, while sales of Wii U are expected to fall to 800,000 units from 3.26 million in the previous term.
Nintendo’s Mr. Kimishima declined to say whether Nintendo would charge for downloading the games.
The videogame maker long resisted jumping into the smartphone game industry but switched course last year and teamed up with DeNA Co. to make games for mobile devices. Nintendo has said it plans to release five smartphone games by March 2017.
The first of those five, a smartphone app called Miitomo, was released last month. The social-interaction game has been downloaded by more than 10 million users globally, according to Nintendo.
It is free to download, but users can pay to play a game within the game and purchase clothing for their characters.
