TOKYO (AP) – Nintendo’s profit for the fiscal year ended March changed slightly from a year earlier, falling 0.6 percent to 477.7 billion yen ($ 3.7 billion), it said on Tuesday. the Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises.
Sales for the fiscal year fell 3.6 percent to 1.7 trillion yen ($ 13 billion) as fewer Nintendo Switch machines were sold and IP revenue from mobile content also fell, according to Kyoto-based Nintendo Co.
But players around the Nintendo Switch world, including fans of games in South America as well as Asia, now number about 102 million, up from 87 million in the previous fiscal year, Nintendo said.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus and a new Kirby game, according to Nintendo, have been particularly popular in Nintendo’s gaming software recently.
Game makers have reaped unexpected benefits from more people staying home during the coronavirus pandemic over the past two years. But sales of Nintendo Switch consoles boosted more in the previous fiscal year, driven by the hit game Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Sales of consoles are often driven by hit games, although devices tend to sell better in the beginning and then slowly decline in popularity.
Nintendo said the shortage of computer chips as a result of the restrictions on COVID-19 has hampered production.
Nintendo faces stiff competition not only from longtime video game competitors such as Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., but also from newcomers like Netflix and Google.
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