Nintendo, the Japanese video game maker known for the Super Mario franchise, reported a 60% decrease in profit for the first half of the fiscal year. The company’s profit stood at 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) with a 34% drop in sales to 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion). Global Switch sales also decreased during this period from 6.8 million units to 4.7 million units. Despite this decline, Nintendo remains committed to its goal of selling a Switch console to each individual rather than one per household.
The company maintained its initial projection of a 300 billion yen ($2 billion) profit for the full fiscal year, a decrease of nearly 29% from the previous year. Annual sales were expected to fall by 23% to 1.28 trillion yen ($8.4 billion). Additionally, Nintendo revised its Switch sales projection for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units from the earlier forecast of 13.5 million. The Christmas shopping season and New Year’s holiday, especially in Japan, are crucial for game and toy makers including Nintendo, as they see a peak in sales during this period.
Nintendo has yet to announce details about a successor to the Switch console. However, some of the company’s popular game titles such as “Paper Mario RPG” and “Luigi Mansion 2 HD” performed well, with sales of 1.95 million and nearly 1.6 million units respectively. Overall, more than 70 million Switch games were sold during the period, including nine million-seller titles from both first-party and third-party manufacturers. Despite this success, there was a decrease in game sales compared to the previous year, which Nintendo attributed to the absence of a Super Mario Brothers movie release.
The lower revenue was also reflected in Nintendo’s mobile-game offerings and IP-related businesses. The company’s mobile-game segment faced a decline, impacting overall revenue. Nintendo mentioned that the success of the Super Mario Brothers movie release in the previous fiscal year contributed to higher sales, while the absence of such a movie in the current year had a negative impact on results. Looking ahead, Nintendo’s focus remains on its goal of expanding the reach of the Switch console and maintaining its position in the competitive gaming market. Despite the challenges faced in the first half of the fiscal year, the company is optimistic about its future prospects and committed to its long-term goals.
