By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Nintendo Co Ltd said on Wednesday it sold 22% less of its Switch consoles in the April-June quarter than a year earlier, while maintaining its forecast to sell 21 million units in the year through end-March 2023.
The Kyoto-based gaming company sold 3.43 million units of the console in the quarter, down from 4.45 million a year earlier. It sold 23.06 million units last year.
The company behind “Super Mario” is forecasting the second annual sales decline for its hybrid home/portable Switch device, which is in its sixth year on the market.
Nintendo last October launched an upgraded Switch model with an OLED screen to drive interest in the aging system.
Console makers have been grappling with supply chain disruption, with Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa in May pointing to ongoing component shortages.
First quarter operating profit fell 15% to 101.6 billion yen ($763 million), below analyst estimates.
Investors are looking for signs of unwinding in the gaming boom among consumers who had been stuck at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sony Group Corp last week reported a 15% drop in PlayStation user engagement compared to a year earlier.
Upcoming Nintendo games to support demand into the key year-end shopping season include “Splatoon 3”, which will be released in September, and “Pokemon Scarlet and Violet” in November.
($1 = 133.2100 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Tomasz Janowski)
