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Nintendo estimates operating profit to grow to 45 billion yen
($404.9 million) from 32.9 billion yen a year prior, when
earnings were roughly in line with a forecast announced in
February.
Nintendo last year said it would enter the rapidly growing
mobile gaming segment after years of resisting investor calls
for the move, with consumers starting to shift from dedicated
consoles to simple and often free-to-download smartphone games.
Its first mobile title launched in March, Miitomo, was more of a
social networking application, leaving investors and fans
awaiting games based on bestselling franchises such as Super
Mario Bros.
The company has promised four more smartphone games this
business year. At an earnings briefing on Wednesday, President
Tatsumi Kimishima said it will release two "by this autumn".
To boost its struggling game console business, Kimishima also
said Nintendo would release its next console globally in March
2017. The company has disclosed few details of the console
beyond its codename, NX.
Sales of its current Wii U console have lagged those of Sony
Corp's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360.
Nintendo forecasts Wii U sales at 800,000 units this business
year, from 3.26 million units in the previous year.
Kimishima said the company could cease production of the Wii U
by March 2018.
(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Yoshiyasu Shida; Editing by
Christopher Cushing)
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