Nintendo lowers forecast as Switch sales weaken

Nintendo reported a drop in profit and a lower forecast for future quarters as its Switch hybrid console saw a sales slowdown.

Nintendo sold 14.9 million Switch consoles in the nine months ended December 31, down from 18.9 million units a year earlier. To date, the Nintendo Switch has sold more than 122.5 million to date and 994 million copies of software.

The Kyoto, Japan-based company now expects revenue to decrease 5.6% to $12.06 billion for the fiscal year ending March 31, compared to its previous forecast of a 2.7% decline. Net profit is expected to drop 22.5% to $2.8 billion. Previously, it expected a 16% drop.

The company sold 172.1 million Switch software copies in the nine-month period, down from 179.3 million copies a year earlier.

During the nine months ended December 31, Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet sold 20.61 million copies.

Splatoon 3 moved 10.13 million copies, and Nintendo Switch Sports sold 8.61 million copies. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe moved 6.66 million copies, and Kirby and the Forgotten Land sold 3.47 million units. Overall, 27 titles sold more than a million copies.

But Nintendo reduced its projection of Switch software sales to 205 million copies from its previous expectation of of 210 million copies for the fiscal year.

Nintendo sold fewer machines partly because it had a shortage in semiconductor chips because of disruptions from the pandemic, the company said. More people are also traveling again and doing other things besides playing games. The global economic downturn may also be crimping demand.

For the mobile and intellectual property business, royalty income was stable but income from smart-devices declined. So overall sales were down 2.3% year-on-year to $295 million.