Casual gamers know the visceral thrill of connecting with a baseball pitch on Wii Sports; some may have run a lap of the living room as the ball arced out of the stadium. It’s been a while since investors in Nintendo, maker of the Wii console, felt that kind of elation. First-half numbers on Thursday were a strike-out: sales down more than a third, net income cut in half, full-year profits expected to be about a quarter lower.

The entire industry is in something of a funk. Gaming was supposed to be a recession winner: no other opiate could occupy hoi polloi for longer, more cheaply. But last month’s 1 per cent rise in total sales of hardware, software and accessories in the US, the world’s biggest market, snapped a six-month losing streak.