NINTENDO UPS SWITCH FORECAST TO 24M UNITS DUE TO GAMING BOOM

Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd said it expects to sell 24 million of its Switch games consoles in the year ending March 2021, up 26% from a previous forecast of 19 million, as a COVID-19 pandemic-driven gaming boom continues. 

The Kyoto-based gaming company also revised its operating profit forecast up 50% to 450 billion yen ($4.31 billion) as titles like “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” bring new consumers to the Switch, which launched in 2017, Sam Nussey reported for Reuters late on November 5, 2020. 

Operating profit for July-September alone more than doubled from same period a year earlier to 147 billion yen, Reuters calculations showed, with Nintendo reporting first-half operating earnings were 291 million yen. 

Nintendo said it sold 12.5 million Switch devices in the first half of the financial year, comprising 8.4 million hybrid home-portable Switch consoles and 4.2 million portable-only Switch Lite devices.