Citing sluggish consumer demand for its DS handheld device and the impact of rising yen, leading videogame console maker Nintendo recently reported its first quarterly loss in over two years.

Posting the results of its first quarter that ended June 30, the Kyoto-based Nintendo said that it had suffered a net loss of 25.2 billion yen; as against the same quarter earlier year profit of 42.3 billion yen. The company also said that it booked a foreign currency-related one-time loss of 70.5 billion yen during the quarter.

Due to the falling demand for DS handheld, Nintendo witnessed a 25.6 percent year-on-year drop in its sales for the quarter. The sales this time round stood at 188.6 billion yen, vis-à-vis the same quarter year-before figures of
253.4 billion yen.

With the sales of the DS plunging 33 percent in the US last month, Nintendo said that since its revenue had been hit by a lack of new game titles, as the company kept its outlook for yearly profit to plunge to the lowest in four years.

Noting that the rise in the value of the yen, along with the fall in the euro and the dollar, adversely affected Nintendo’s overseas sales and earnings, Kiyoshi Ishigane, a Tokyo-based senior strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., said: “The foreign-currency fluctuation exposure and sluggish consumer demand in the US add up to a rather bleak outlook for the company.”