TOKYO (AP) – Japanese video game maker Nintendo recorded a slight drop in profit in April to December as it maintained strong sales of its Switch console games.
Nintendo Co.’s net profit in the first nine months of the fiscal year through March was JPY346 billion (USD2.6 billion), down 5.8 per cent from JPY367 billion in the same period of the previous year.
Nintendo, the Kyoto-based maker of Pokemon and Super Mario video games, did not provide a breakdown of quarterly numbers.
Among the games selling well were Splatoon 3, a paint-shooting game, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet and Nintendo Switch Sports.
Nintendo sold fewer machines compared to a year earlier, partly because a shortage in computer chips, a critical part for the console, due to disruptions from the pandemic crimped production, the company said.
Nintendo lowered its full fiscal year profit forecast to JPY370 billion, from the JPY400 billion it had projected in November. Previous fiscal year profit was JPY477.7 billion.
This fiscal year’s nine-month sales totalled nearly JPY1.3 trillion, down 1.9 per cent from a year earlier.
Nintendo earlier was more bullish about its performance because an increase in people staying home during the pandemic boosted its sales.
That advantage is likely wearing off now that pandemic restrictions have eased and people increasingly are travelling and working outside their homes both in Japan and the rest of the world.
Nintendo expects to sell 18 million Switch consoles in the current fiscal year, down from an earlier forecast of 21 million Switch machines that was cut to 19 million machines late last year.
Cumulative Switch sales around the world have topped 122 million machines.
Japanese exporters like Nintendo have gotten a boost in profits from the yen’s weakness against the US dollar and other major currencies. That lifts the value of their overseas earnings when converted into yen. The US dollar is now trading at about JPY130 after rising to about JPY150 a few months ago.
