Nintendo has reported a dramatic 55 per cent plunge in profits for the quarter ended June 30 as sales of its famous seven-year-old Switch console drops.

Although analysts had predicted that its profits would be down by around A$740.64 million, Nintendo surprised the market and reported even weaker profits of A$846.67 million, down 55.3 per cent since the year before.

The Japanese video game company also reported revenue of 246.6 billion yen (A$2.58 billion), which was well below estimates by analysts of A$3.03 billion.

The fall in the company’s revenue could be attributed to the decline in its Switch video game console sales. It sold only 2.1 million units of its Switch devices in the April-June quarter, a decrease of 46 per cent year-on-year.

Japan has seen a marked decline in the sale of Switch consoles. Of the 2.1 million units sold in the April-June quarter, 790,000 were sold in Japan, 650,000 in the US and 410,000 in Europe.

A year earlier, the numbers were 1.2 million in Japan, 1.18 million in the U.S. and 940,000 in Europe.

While Nintendo has said that it still intends to sell another 13.5 million Switch consoles – its second most successful console after the Nintendo DS – for the remainder of the year, analysts are now tracking the company’s announcements of the successor to the Switch.

The company has previously said that it will make an announcement of the Switch’s successor within its current fiscal year which ends in March 2025.

As ChannelNews reported recently, Nintendo is gearing up to release several new games for its Switch console. It revealed a new role-playing game ‘Mario & Luigi: Brothership’ will arrive on November 7, and the upcoming ‘The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom’ game will arrive sooner on September 26.

In an attempt to further diversify and grow income streams, Nintendo has also been attempting to license its intellectual property for use everywhere from movies to theme parks. It is working on an animated Super Mario movie, which will be produced by Illumination and is scheduled for release in 2026.