Nintendo’s Sales Nearly Double to 1.9 T. Yen in April-Dec.

Kyoto, Feb. 3 (Jiji Press)–Nintendo Co. said Tuesday that its consolidated sales in April-December last year nearly doubled from a year before to 1,905.8 billion yen, a record high for the nine-month period. The result was driven by strong sales of the Nintendo Switch 2 video game console, launched in June last year. Nintendo had sold 17.37 million units of the new console worldwide by the end of December. The company’s net profit increased about 1.5-fold to 358.8 billion yen. “The Switch 2 got off to a good start, and its sales increased during the year-end shopping season,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said at an online press conference. Although the price of semiconductor memory chips, which are essential for game consoles, is on the rise, Furukawa emphasized that there is no major impact at present. He noted that if the price remains high, it could put pressure on earnings. Regarding the possible price increase for the Switch 2, he said, “We will make a comprehensive decision.” The company maintained its earnings forecast for the full year ending in March. Its assumed exchange rate was revised to 150 yen per dollar from 140 yen. Nintendo also announced Tuesday that cumulative sales of the first-generation Nintendo Switch, released in March 2017, reached 155.37 million units by the end of last year, making it the top-selling game console in the company’s history. Previously, the Nintendo DS, released in December 2004 in Japan, had held the top spot with 154.02 million units. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]