Japanese video game giant Nintendo Co Ltd. said on Thursday it expected profits to weaken this year, as its GameCube game console goes toe-to-toe in a price war with Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox.
Nintendo, known for its cuddly Pokemon characters and handheld Game Boy players, said group net profit jumped 10.2 percent to 106.4 billion yen ($855.8 million) in the 12 months to March 31, a record for a second straight year.
Group sales swelled 20 percent to 554.89 billion yen.
But the company said it expected net profit to dip to 90 billion yen in the year to next March, down about 15 percent, despite a 15 percent rise in sales to 640 billion yen.
Analysts have said that Nintendo could see sales of its GameCube console suffer this year as Sony Corp and newcomer Microsoft Corp raise the heat on prices.
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