Profits for Nintendo rise as people play games throughout a pandemic
On Monday, Nintendo Co announced that its earnings almost doubled in the first three fiscal quarters as individuals around the world stayed home for the pandemic and switched to gaming.
Behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises, the Japanese video-game maker said its profit from April-December increased to 376.6 billion yen ($3.6 billion) from 196 billion yen the previous year.
Its revenues for nine months soared 37% to 1.4 trillion yen ($13 billion).
The success of Kyoto-based Nintendo has come on the back of its Switch console popularity, as well as game software such as “Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”
According to the company, “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and “Super Mario 3D All-Stars” were other Switch software that enjoyed healthy demand.
Thanks to year-end holiday shopping, the October-December quarter is always critical for Nintendo.
During the three quarters through December, Nintendo shipped 24 million Switch consoles. During the first two quarters of the fiscal year, it sold 12.5 million Switch units, so revenues nearly doubled in the last quarter. The smaller Switch Lite console as well as the standard Switch are included in the overall numbers.
The latest figures show Switch sales are still going high, at 17.7 million units compared to the same time a year ago.
After this fourth year of holiday season Turn sales, cumulative sales exceed 74 million consoles, Nintendo said.
For the fiscal year through March 2021, Nintendo expects a 400 billion yen ($3.8 billion) profit, up from 258.6 billion yen the previous fiscal year. It had previously projected a profit of 300 billion yen (2.9 billion dollars).
One of Nintendo’s COVID-19-related setbacks was the delayed opening of its Universal Studios-built theme park in Japan called Super Nintendo World.
It was scheduled to open Feb. 4, but as cases increase in Japan this year, Osaka, where it is based, is one of the urban areas under a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic.
While several companies have been slammed by the spread of COVID-19 infections, the game sector has been a beneficiary from the beginning, providing home entertainment and ways for people to communicate remotely via online gaming.
Source: Japan Today
