Nintendo Lowers Profit Forecast

By Kiyoshi Takenaka

TOKYO (Reuters) – Nintendo cut its operating profit forecast for the year to March 2025 by 10% to 360 billion yen ($2.36 billion) on Tuesday, as sales of its ageing Switch console lost steam.

The forecast is below analyst estimates for profit of 391.4 billion yen.

The Kyoto-based gaming company sold 4.7 million Switch consoles in the first half of the financial year, down from 6.8 million units in the same period a year earlier.

Nintendo lowered its full-year sales forecast for the console, which is in its eighth year on the market, by 7% to 12.5 million units, marking a 20% decrease from the actual sales of 15.7 million units the previous year.

It also revised down its annual software sales forecast by 3% to 160 million units.

"For a platform that is in its 8th year in the market, both hardware and software enjoy stable demand and brisk sales," Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa stated at an online press conference.

"But sales so far fell short of our original projections. Taking into consideration their sales in the first half, we revised our forecasts for both hardware and software, and that led to the earnings revision."

Furukawa indicated there was no change in Nintendo's plan to announce a successor to its long-lasting Switch console within the current financial year ending in March, but provided no further details.

Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda commented that Nintendo shares could face continued pressure in the short term, as an announcement about the new console, which could be a significant catalyst for the stock, appears unlikely before the end of the calendar year.

"Making an announcement this year has gotten quite difficult… You would not want to divert attention to an upcoming console in the middle of the critical year-end shopping season," Yasuda added.

Shares in Nintendo closed down 3.9% ahead of the earnings announcement, underperforming the Nikkei average's 1.1% gain.

($1 = 152.3400 yen)