Japanese gaming giant Nintendo has endured a fall in net profit for the June quarter as Switch sales slump from last year’s pandemic sugar high.
Nintendo posted a quarterly profit of 92.7 billion yen (around $1.1 billion AUD), down 12.9 per cent year on year, while revenue also fell 9.9 per cent to 322.6 million yen (around $4 million AUD).
The decline came off the back of slumping sales in both hardware and software, with total hardware sales dropping 22 per cent year-on-year to 4.45 million units, and the Switch Lite in particular crashing 57 per cent year-on-year.
Game sales were also down around 10 per cent to around 45 million copies; while titles like New Pokémon Snap sold over two million copies, and Miitopia and Mario Golf: Super Rush over one million each, both were a far cry from the roaring pandemic success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which sold 10 million copies alone in the June quarter of 2020.
In its results announcement, Nintendo pointed to upcoming highly anticipated titles such as Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, as well as a modest eight per cent rise in sales of the original Switch, to paint a sunny forecast.
“We will work to keep the platform active with new titles and by reinforcing sales of popular titles that have already been released.
“We also aim to expand Nintendo Switch sales by adding a new model equipped with a vibrant OLED display to the lineup in October. Nintendo Switch OLED model will give consumers another model option to choose from, to better suit their preferences and lifestyles,” the company says.
Both COVID-19 and the global chip shortage are still creating headaches for Nintendo and its rivals.
