Nintendo has posted impressive first-half profits, despite Switch sales dropping by almost 20 per cent.

The Japanese gaming giant saw net profits of A$2.41 billion for the April-September period, up 34.1 per cent on the prior year.

Sales were up 5.2 per cent, to A$6.9 billion, with sales from the company’s dedicated video game business up by 5.7 per cent, to A$6.6 billion.

Nintendo Switch consoles sold another 6.68 million units during the half, with 114.33 million sold to date. This is a decline of 19.1 per cent from the prior year, which has lead Nintendo to lower its full-year forecast by two million units.

“For Nintendo Switch hardware, we reduced our forecast by 2.00 million units to 19.00 million units,” Nintendo wrote.

“While there is a gradual improvement in semiconductor and other component supplies and a recovery trend in hardware manufacturing for Nintendo Switch, taking into consideration production and sales performances thus far, we have modified the Nintendo Switch hardware sales units forecast for the fiscal year.”

“In July and August, we were unable to produce as previously planned, and this is having a serious impact on the year-end sales season,” President Shuntaro Furukawa told a news briefing.

“Production has been recovering since September, and we are producing at a rapid pace from October onward to catch up.”

Nintendo has, however, increased its overall full-year guidance to A$4.22 billion, a 17.6 per cent leap from its August forecast. Despite this cheery outlook, this forecast would still be down from the previous year’s A$5.03 billion net profit.

Digital software sales were the savior for Nintendo between April and September, rising to A$1.98 billion, up 30.2 per cent year on year.

Digital sales accounted for 51 per cent of total software sales, with Splatoon 3 and Nintendo Switch Sports, both released in the first half of this fiscal year, leading the charge. Sales from Nintendo Switch Online also increased, as did add-on content and download-only software as well.

The company broke a few software records during the half, with Splatoon 3 selling 3.45 million copies in Japan within three days of launch, making it Switch’s fastest-selling game in Nintendo home market. It has sold 7.9 million copies to date.

The total number of million-seller titles during this fiscal year rose to 15 titles, pushing software unit sales to 95.41 million units for the half.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons broke the 40 million sales mark this half, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remaining the console’s biggest seller, with a whopping 48 million units sold.

The weak yen was also a factor in keeping the hardware slump at bay, given three-quarters of its sales were in overseas markets.

“While hardware unit sales declined by volume year-on-year due in part to the semiconductor shortage, overall hardware sales increased mainly due to the depreciation of the yen,” Nintendo notes.

Furukawa told press there was no plan to hike the price of the Switch, but noted, “it is clear that the yen has weakened to a greater extent than expected, so we need to carefully consider the issue.”