Right on the heels of our prediction that Nintendo’s console division could get smoked if good things don’t start happening, two really, really bad things happened. The first is that it ate a 70 billion yen loss, although that’s not really too bad, considering everybody thought Nintendo was going to lose 100 billion yen. The second is that the yen is strong, and getting stronger.
How is a strong currency dinging the House of Mario? Pretty simple: most of Nintendo’s profits (and remember, it sells everything for a profit) come from outside Japan. In order for it to be spent inside Japan, Nintendo has to convert it into yen. The stronger the yen, the more money Nintendo loses, and so far, apparently, Nintendo has lost $600 million freaking bucks. And the yen is getting stronger.
Still, at least 3DS sales are up and it might be a good holiday season, so there’s that. Of course, just watch, something else will come and screw them over: Nintendo just can’t catch a break lately.