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Nintendo back in the black with Switch
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A model puts the controller on to the Nintendo Switch during a presentation event of the new Nintendo Switch in Tokyo, Friday, Jan. 13, 2017. Nintendo Co. said Friday that its Nintendo Switch video game console will sell for 29,980 yen (about $260) in Japan, starting March 3. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
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intendo said Wednesday it swung back to profit in the three months to June as the Switch console made more inroads into the global game market.
The Kyoto-based company struggled in the April-June quarter last year when it faced a stronger yen and lacklustre sales, particularly of its Wii U game consoles.
Nintendo launched Switch in March with a price tag of $300 and had sold 2.7 million units by the end of the month. The gadget is seen as a new pillar for the company's earnings.
During the April-June period, the company carried out successive launches of headline game titles for Switch, such as "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" and "ARMS".
Nintendo said sales of Switch hardware in April-June totalled 1.97 million units while software reached 8.14 million during the quarter.
The company said quarterly net profit reached 21.26 billion yen ($190 million), flipping from a net loss of 24.53 billion yen in the same period last year.
Nintendo plans to ship 10 million consoles in the fiscal year to March 2018.
Capable at home and on the go, Switch blends Nintendo's console and handheld device business with its fledgling mobile gaming strategy, which got a big brand win after Pokemon Go's success in the summer of 2016.
"Nintendo Switch got off to a flying start and demand has been stronger than anticipated," Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo, told AFP before the earnings announcement.
Nintendo was positioning itself for the year-end holiday shopping season with Switch for a further boost to its bottom line, he added.
"Sales are expected to remain strong for now as Nintendo is set to release big game titles later this year," he said.
"A weak yen is also contributing to its earnings. Switch is so far, so good," Yasuda said.
