Nintendo's earnings decline by 55% due to decreasing sales of its aging Switch console.

• In the first quarter of its fiscal year, Nintendo's revenue and profit decreased due to a decline in sales of its aging Switch console.
• In 2020, Nintendo sold 2.1 million units of its flagship Switch consoles, which represents a 46% decrease compared to the previous year.
• The gaming business of Nintendo is being reinvigorated by investors who are searching for updates about a successor to the Nintendo Switch console.

The company's fiscal first quarter saw a decline in sales of the ageing Switch console, resulting in a plunge in revenue and profit on Friday.

According to LSEG estimates, how did Nintendo perform in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30?

• The actual revenue of 246.6 billion yen ($1.65 billion) is lower than the expected revenue of 289.61 billion yen.
• Net profit:  80.9 billion Japanese yen versus 70.73 billion yen expected.

Net sales lost 46.5% year-on-year, while net profit fell 55.3%.

In 2020, Nintendo sold 2.1 million units of its flagship Switch consoles, which represents a 46% decrease compared to the previous year.

The gaming business of Nintendo is in need of rejuvenation, and investors are eagerly awaiting news about the successor to the Nintendo Switch console, which is expected to be announced in the current fiscal year, ending in March 2025.

Nintendo has maintained its forecast of selling 13.5 million units of the existing Switch console model in the current period.

The Switch, which is now over seven years old, is Nintendo's second-best-selling console in terms of units sold, following the Nintendo DS. Over time, Nintendo has updated the Switch with improved graphics and has capitalized on the popularity of games featuring well-known characters such as Mario and Zelda to maintain sales.

Nintendo did not release any blockbuster games in the June quarter, and its software sales fell 41% year-on-year to 30.64 million units.

In the upcoming months, the renowned Japanese gaming corporation will release a series of games featuring popular characters such as Mario and Donkey Kong.

Nintendo is attempting to license out its intellectual property for various purposes, including movies and theme parks, in an effort to boost sales of its console. The company is currently working on an animated Super Mario movie, set for release in 2026, in an attempt to attract users to its video games.

Although the push, sales from the mobile and intellectual property-related part of the business decreased by 54% year-on-year to 14.7 billion yen.