Nintendo will make a profit on sales of 3DS hardware in the first six months of the next fiscal year.
The pledge comes from company president Satoru Iwata, who also said that 3DS software support would improve, especially in the west. It follows another miserable set of financial results from the company, with losses growing despite a huge increase in sales of 3DS, after the global price drop last August meant the company was selling hardware at a loss.
"I would like to begin with the product profitability of the Nintendo 3DS hardware, which has affected our profit for most of the current fiscal year," Iwata told investors. "Let me first inform you that, in the first half of the next fiscal term, we are now anticipating to get out of the situation that we sell the hardware below cost."
Nintendo's next fiscal year begins on April 1- meaning 3DS will return to profitability by the end of September, just in time for the fourth-quarter sales rush. Iwata said the increase in sales - 3DS has sold faster than either DS or Wii in its first year - "brought a pleasant surprise to the videogame industry and changed the thoughts of thirdparty software developers for the better.
"We are now expecting a strong software lineup for the platform ... There will be more and more highly-anticipated titles for Nintendo 3DS even in the US and Europe where home console game systems lead the market. We intend to release these various titles without any extreme interruptions."
It shows Nintendo is keen to build on the final three months of last year, which saw a huge increase in sales of 3DS hardware and software. That, however, was driven largely by Japan, with Nintendo's own Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7, and Capcom's Monster Hunter Tri G, selling more than a million units in Japan alone.
Evidently Nintendo realises that it needs greater support from western developers and publishers if it is to sustain 3DS's momentum - and that it needs a busy release schedule throughout the year, rather than relying on a busy fourth quarter.