Nintendo cuts its annual profit forecast by 70 per cent

Nintendo revised its annual profit forecast on Wednesday by the conservative figure of 70 per cent.

Citing factors such as the strength of the Japanese yen, price cuts of their consoles, and weaker-than-expected sales, Nintendo announced that it expects to see a net profit of 6 billion yen ($75 million) for the year. This figure is far short of the 20 billion yen profit ($250 million) that Nintendo expected previously.

Yet not all news is bad for Nintendo, which is still struggling to overcome its first ever annual loss.

Since posting the sobering sales figures in April, Nintendo has narrowed its financial shortfall in the six months through September to a mere loss of 28 billion yen ($350 million). This is a marked improvement from the same period last year that saw Nintendo 70 billion yen in the red.

Japanese gaming products have been hit particularly hard by the current global economy and strong yen - to say nothing of the pressure of smartphone and tablet gaming - but Nintendo saw another factor for the decreased profit projection.

"Sales of the Nintendo 3DS hardware and software were weaker in overseas markets than expected", Nintendo said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.

This is likely why Nintendo revised its projection on global 3DS sales as well, bringing them down from 18.5 million units to 17.5 million units for the fiscal year ending March 31.