Indicating that its Wii game console had recaptured its grip after a slowdown in demand, Nintendo co. reported "robust" profits by year-end holiday sales, despite the fact that strong price cuts continued to push the company down. Nintendo, maker of 'the Wii game console' reported on Thursday, a 192.6 billion yen ($2.1 billion) profit for the nine months through Dec. 31. Sales retreated 23 percent to 1.18 trillion yen.

Nintendo had cut prices by 20% to $200 in advance of the holiday shopping season. This was done to cope up with slowing demand for the Wii. Revenue also suffered from amplification of the yen against the euro and U. S. dollar, resulting in lower overseas income.

By introduction of "New Super Mario Bros. Wii", which sold 10.55 million units world-wide since its November release, Nintendo had a strong holiday quarter boosted up. Nintendo consequently set a U. S. record for most gaming systems sold in a single month.

Nintendo stated, "These strong software titles, coupled with the price reduction on the Wii hardware and other factors, combined to drive sales of Wii hardware strongly in the holiday season".

On one hand where analyst surveys by Reuters are forecasting a full-year net profit of 226.52 billion yen, Nintendo, on the other hand, said that it will keep its current forecast for a net profit of 230 billion yen on revenue of 1.5 trillion yen.