Nintendo reports profit drop as sales of aging Switch gaming console slump – WSVN 7News

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese video game maker Nintendo on Friday reported a 55 percent drop in profit in the April-June quarter, as sales of both machines and gaming software fell compared with a year ago.

Sales of gaming consoles tend to decline after they hit the market. The Nintendo Switch is in its eighth year of sales and has already sold over 140 million units.

Nintendo Co., owner of the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises, reported profit of 80.95 billion yen ($543 million) in the latest quarter, down from 181 billion yen a year earlier. Quarterly sales fell 46.5% to 246.6 billion yen ($1.7 billion).

Nintendo has not provided any new information about its promised Switch successor. Earlier this year, company president Shuntaro Furukawa said an announcement would be made before April 2025.

There are an estimated 128 million Switch players worldwide. Quarterly Switch console sales in the recent period fell 46% year-over-year to 2.1 million units from 3.9 million.

Software sales fell 41%, even as millions of copies of games were sold, including “Paper Mario,” based on the Super Mario series, and a new Luigi game.

Nintendo said the sales and profit declines reflected a particularly strong performance last year, when it received a huge boost from the Super Mario Brothers movie. Nintendo stressed that its latest profits and sales, which were in line with analysts’ forecasts, were comparable to what it had amassed in the January-March period.

Another Super Mario movie is set to be released in 2026 as Nintendo builds on its prized intellectual property.

The latest installment in the Mario Party, Donkey Kong, and Zelda series is set to release in the next few months.

“Other software publishers also plan to release a wide range of titles, and we will strive to revitalize the platform by continually introducing new titles in addition to existing ones,” Nintendo said in a statement.

The company has promised to continue to draw people to its games. Later this year, the Nintendo Museum will open in Japan’s ancient capital of Kyoto, where the company is headquartered. A Nintendo store is set to open next year in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Nintendo shares fell 2.3% in Tokyo trading shortly before the results were announced. The Nikkei composite index fell 5.8% on Friday.

Nintendo shares have fallen recently as the U.S. dollar weakened against the yen, trading at around 149 yen. It had previously traded at more than 160 yen. The weak yen is a plus for exporters like Nintendo because it increases the value of their overseas profits.

Nintendo maintained its profit forecast for the year through March at 300 billion yen ($2 billion).