Expect more Wii and DS: Nintendo earns 73% more than last year, profits at 115.6%

Nintendo of America‘s  president Reggie Fils-Aime was passionately upset with the lack of Wii in North America. But Nintendo’s recent success will give Fils-Aime millions of reasons more to smile. Nintendo has just registered 73% and 115.6% increase in sales and profits for the past fiscal year. More details over at the full article.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime became “passionately upset” with the lack of Wii supplies in North America. If anything, the frustration is more about missed opportunities than sales problems. Proof? For the past fiscal year ending in March 31, 2008, Nintendo earned an increase of 73% in sales and 115.6% in profits.

That’s right, 73%. Nintendo racked JPY 1.67 trillion in sales. The resulting operating profits reached JPY 487 billion. Seen in a year-over-year perspective, that’s a profit increase of 115.6%.

This is really a testament to the success of the Nintendo DS and Wii more than anything. If you could remember, NPD sales determined the Wii and DS as the best-selling game platforms for 2007.

Because of this success, Nintendo has increased their estimated number of Wii shipments. From last year’s 18.61 million Wii units, expect 25 million more for this fiscal year.

With more Wii, comes more games, of course. From last year’s 119.6 million Wii software units, Nintendo projects 177 million more this year. That’s on the strength of a 6.07 life-to-date tie ratio for games per system world wide for the Wii.

Likewise, the Nintendo DS is sustaining its past success. An additional 28 million DS units is projected by Nintendo coupled with 187 million more software units. This is based on a 5.24 life-to-date tie ratio of games per system worldwide.

All we can say is that’s a lot of Wii and DS going around. We’ll keep you posted on more news on this, so stay tuned.