Japanese video game maker and creator of the Super Mario franchise, Nintendo, said its profits fell 60% in the first half of its fiscal year as demand for its Switch console plummeted, according to AP News.
Kyoto-based Nintendo reported a 108.7 billion yen ($715 million) profit for the April to September period as sales fell 34% year-on-year. Over 74% of sales revenue came from overseas, according to Nintendo. Global Switch sales for the period fell to 4.7 million units from 6.8 million units in the previous year.
However, Nintendo noted in its statement that Switch sales continued to grow and promised to stick to its goal of selling a Switch console to every person, not just one Switch per household.
The company also lowered its Switch sales forecast for the fiscal year to 12.5 million units, down from its previous forecast of 13.5 million. Nintendo and other game and toy makers generate their biggest profits during the Christmas shopping season as well as New Year’s Eve.
Among the million-selling games for the fiscal half-year are “Paper Mario RPG,” which has sold 1.95 million copies since going on sale in May, and “Luigi Mansion 2 HD,” with sales of nearly 1.6 million.
In total, more than 70 million Switch games were sold during the period. Only nine games were million-sellers, including third-party or non-Nintendo products. Still, this is down from the 97 million games sold last year.
Nintendo said sales were boosted in the previous fiscal year by the release of the Super Mario Brothers film, whereas the absence of such a film this fiscal year had a negative impact on recent results. Revenue also declined in mobile gaming and IP-related businesses.
