It’s not quite Game Over for Nintendo, but Angry Birds and other iPhone games cost the company nearly $1 billion for the first half of 2011. What’s more, an aging Wii is being overshadowed as more and more gamers turn to smartphones. It’s enough to give Donkey Kong indigestion.
The game maker expects a net loss of $923 million in the six months ended September 30 and predicts a $264 million loss for the complete year, which ends in March 2012. It’s the first loss the Japanese game maker has posted in over thirty years.
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said games on the iPhone and iPod touch, as well as Android devices allow consumers to walk away from traditional game consoles. Earlier this year, feeling the pressure from Apple iOS devices, Nintendo slashed prices for its new 3DS from $249 to $168 – an $80 reduction.
Although the game maker said it would never release an iOS version of its popular Mario franchise, this summer a private company that owns the Pokemon license released a Pokemon game, Pokemon Tap, for the iOS and Android platforms.