Japanese video game giants, Nintendo, has reported a 541% surge in the company's net profits during the darkest and least profitable months of the COVID-19 pandemic, defying a worldwide shortage of its Switch consoles and a slender pipeline of in-house games. The year-on-year jump in sales and profits during the April to June quarter was far in excess of what analysts had expected.
The success was largely driven by sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a whimsical, island-based fantasy game that captured both players' imaginations and wallets as the world retreated into its living rooms. From April to June, the Kyoto-based company reported a net profit of ¥106.5 billion ($1billion), up from ¥16.6billion a year ago. Sales rose 108% over the same period with combined shipments of the portable and hybrid version of the Switch jumping from 2.13 million to 5.68 million units.
'From April to June, the Kyoto-based company reported a net profit of ¥106.5 billion ($1billion)'
A new wave of infections has been forcing governments in Europe (the UK most notably) and elsewhere to reinstate lockdowns, Nintendo have revaluated its net profit forecast to 300 billion yen for the fiscal year to March 2021 from an earlier estimate of 200 billion yen. Full-year sales now are projected at 1.4 trillion yen, compared with 1.2 trillion yen forecast earlier. As the shops close and the roads become desolate in this (second) period of lockdown, we can all take heart that we can sit inside the house and use our Nintendo games consoles to pass away to time.
