Nintendo Reports Falling Profit and Sales for the Switch Gaming Console

Nintendo’s Switch console is getting old, and it’s affecting sales and profit. As sales of the console have declined, so did Nintendo’s bottom line in the fiscal first quarter.

Only 2.1 million Switches were sold, down roughly 46% thus far this year. Despite this, Nintendo still estimates that 13.5 million will be sold by the end of the fiscal year. Sales of the console have continued as the company has consistently made improvements over the years, including a larger and more colorful display.

The Switch is Nintendo’s second most successful console to date, coming in behind the Nintendo DS in overall unit sales. However, the Switch is now 8 years old and investors are looking for the next big gaming system. In May, Nintendo teased a replacement for the Switch will be announced by the end of March 2025.

Nintendo’s operating profit fell to 54.5 billion yen (about $371 million), a loss of 71%. This was more than a third of what analysts had hoped for. Revenue for the mobile and intellectual property side of the business also fell 54% to 14.7 billion yen ($100 million).

Software sales plummeted 41% to 30.64 million units over the past year. The fact that Nintendo did not offer any significant new games in the quarter likely contributed to the plunge. With new games, “The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” and “Mario & Luigi: Brothership,” coming out in a few months, Nintendo hopes to turn around slumping sales.

Overall, the gaming industry has been struggling. Sony’s game developer, Bungie, cut 220 jobs this week, blaming “rising costs” and “economic conditions.” Prior to that, Microsoft laid off 1,900 workers in its Blizzard Activision and Xbox divisions.

Even with these challenges, Nintendo stock is up nearly 8% year to date. However, share prices did fall slightly ahead of the recent earnings announcement.