Japanese Nintendo sold 23% fewer Switch consoles in the April-June quarter than a year earlier following chip shortages, it said on Wednesday.

The Kyoto-based game company said it expected buying to improve “from late summer through fall” and stuck to its forecast of selling 21 million units over the course of the year. year until the end of March 2023.

“Demand remains stable across all regions,” Nintendo said in a presentation.

Nintendo, the company behind Super Mario, sold 3.43 million units of its Switch console during the quarter, up from 4.45 million a year earlier. It sold 23.06 million units last year.

It predicts the second annual drop in sales of its hybrid home/wearable Switch device, which is in its sixth year on the market.

The company launched an upgraded Switch model with an OLED display last October to spark interest in the system.

First-quarter software sales fell 8.6% to 41.4 million units, while operating profit fell 15% to 101.6 billion yen (around Rs 6,020 crore) , below analysts’ estimates.

Nintendo recorded a foreign exchange gain of 51.7 billion yen (about 3,060 crore rupees) thanks to the weakness of the yen.

Investors are pricing in the unfolding of a gambling boom among consumers who had been stuck at home during the pandemic shutdowns.

Sony reported a 15% drop in PlayStation user engagement last week compared to the previous year.

“Gaming is now more important than ever and a certain portion of users remain, but the party is definitely over,” said Serkan Toto, founder of game industry consultancy Kantan Games.

Upcoming Nintendo games to meet demand in the year-end shopping season include Splatoon 3, which will be released in September, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in November.

© Thomson Reuters 2022