Nintendo Slashes Price of 3DS Device

NEW YORK – Japanese video game company Nintendo said Thursday it has decided to slash the price of its handheld gaming device Nintendo 3DS from $249.99 $169.99 as of Aug. 12 amid sluggish sales. The news came as the company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly financials and cut its outlook for the full fiscal year amid slow sales of the device.

The 3DS, which features 3D graphics without the need for 3D glasses, launched earlier this year and sold only 710,000 units in the latest quarter. “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D was launched and favorably received, but Nintendo 3DS had few other hit titles,” Nintendo said in a statement.

Nintendo on Thursday also reported a loss of 25.5 billion yen ($328.1 million) for its fiscal first quarter, compared with a year-ago loss of 25.2 billion yen. Revenue was roughly halved to  93.9 billion yen from 188.7 billion yen a year earlier.

The Wii console saw sales of 1.56 million, about half the 3.04 million units sold in the fiscal first quarter of last year.

Nintendo said it now expects a profit of 20 billion yen for the fiscal year. That is more than 80 percent below the previous target of 110 billion yen.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai