By Sam Nussey
TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Nintendo cut its full-year sales Switch forecast by 12% to 11 million units as the aging console loses momentum ahead of the launch of a successor device this year.
Nintendo remains dependent on its console business even as it has opened stores and its roster of characters feature in theme parks and film.
“While we think sales of hardware and software are solid for the eighth year, we did not achieve our plan,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told an earnings briefing.
Nintendo sold 9.54 million Switch units in the April-December period, bringing lifetime sales to 150.86 million units.
Last month Nintendo said it will release a successor to the hit home-portable Switch console this year with a Nintendo Direct event to air on April 2.
The Switch 2 appears to closely follow the design of its predecessor, which transformed Nintendo’s fortunes after the underperformance of the Wii U.
The company lowered its operating profit forecast by 22.2% to 280 billion yen ($1.8 billion) for the financial year ending March.
In the April-December period, profit fell 46.7% to 247.6 billion yen.
($1 = 155.2900 yen)
(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
