Nintendo profit dips as demand for Switch console wanes

globalnews.ca:

Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario franchise, said Tuesday that its profit fell 60 per cent in the first half of the fiscal year, as demand waned for its Switch console, now in its eighth year since going on sale.

Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April-September period, as sales slipped 34 per cent from the previous year to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion).

More than 74 per cent of its sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo, which didn’t break down quarterly numbers.

Global Switch sales during the period dropped to 4.7 million machines from 6.8 million units the previous year.

But Nintendo said in a statement that Switch sales were still growing and vowed to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to each and every individual, not just one Switch per every household.

Nintendo stuck to its earlier projection for a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year through March 2025, down nearly 29 per cent from the previous fiscal year.

Annual sales were forecast to drop 23 per cent to1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion).

It also lowered its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from an earlier forecast to sell 13.5 million.

Nintendo and other game and toy makers rake in their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season, as well as New Year’s, a holiday celebrated with fanfare in Japan, when children receive cash gifts from grandparents and other relatives.

Nintendo has not yet announced details on a successor to the Switch.

Among its million-seller game software titles for the fiscal half were “Paper Mario RPG”, which sold 1.95 million units since going on sale in May, and “Luigi