Struggling Nintendo announces new console for 2017 as profits dive

epa05279210 (FILE) A file picture dated 07 May 2015 shows a customer checking game software for video game company Nintendo Co., Ltd.'s gaming console Nitendo 3DS at a discount chainstore in Tokyo, Japan. Nintendo posted on 27 May 2016 an annual net profit of 16.5 billion yen (about 149 million US dollar) for the fiscal year ended on 31 March 2016, a 61 percent drop from last year. EPA/KIMIMASA MAYAMA

TOKYO: Japanese videogame giant Nintendo said it would release its new games console next year, after the success of its foray into smartphone gaming, but added sales had slipped and a resurgent yen hammered profits. 

The Super Mario maker – which said its first-ever mobile game drew more than a million users within three days of its release – plans to roll out the new console globally in March.