Nintendo Profits Soar on Strong Wii Sales

Nintendo continued to impress investors, posting another solid quarter thanks to strong Wii sales. Its strength was apparent in recent surveys that show during the month of June, the Wii outsold the PS3 by 4 to 1 and the Xbox by 2 to 1 in the US market. In Japan, where Sony is traditionally strong, the numbers were even better. The Wii managed to outsell the PS3 there by a 6 to 1 margin.

Nintendo's profits skyrocketed to 80.3 billion yen ($669 million USD) from 15.6 ($129 million USD) in the year-ago quarter. Such strong results have led Nintendo to raise its full year profit forecast to 245 billion yen from 174.3 billion yen. Altogether, Nintendo has sold 9.3 million Wii consoles worldwide, and may soon overtake Xbox 360 for the lead in sales. Microsoft has sold about 11 million units worldwide, according to reports.