Nintendo (NTDOY, Financial) reported that its profits fell 60% in the first half of the fiscal year following a gradual slide in the popularity of the Switch, which is in its eighth year. Tokyo-based gaming company said its profit was 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) in the first half of its fiscal year through September, down from a year ago, while its sales were 523 billion yen ($3.4 billion), down 34 percent. Thus, more than 74% of its total sales were still from the international market, even during the global recession.
Over this period, Nintendo's Switch console sales were down to 4.7 million from 6.8 million unit sales compared to the prior year. Still, Nintendo is going all-out for a Switch per-capita sale for every consumer straight from home and keeping its full-year profit of 300 billion yen ($2bn) target for the current financial year, a 29% YoY downslide.
Nintendo has also lowered its year-end forecast for the Switch from 13.5 million to 12.5 million units. However, new game releases such as Paper Mario RPG or Luigi Mansion 2 HD achieved sales of 1.95 and nearly 1.6 million units, respectively. Overall, more than 70 million Switch games were sold in the period, with nine games becoming million sellers.
No hit movie release like the Super Mario Brothers movie, which was a big growth driver this year, also contributed to decreased mobile game sales and reduced IP-related business affairs. Key Game Industry Indicators A11 As the holiday season , which is widely reported as one of the biggest sales periods for games, progresses, the games industry will be waiting to see if Nintendo can overcome these difficulties.
