Trend: "Metroid Dread" Comes to Nintendo Switch 0:38
Hong Kong (CNN Business) -
Nintendo's boom from the pandemic may be coming to an end.
The Japanese company said Thursday that sales fell almost 10% in the quarter ended in June, a sign that fewer people were staying home to play video games as some countries around the world began to reopen.
Operating profit fell more than 17% to ¥ 119,752 million (about $ 1 billion) compared to the same period last year, as sales of its Switch consoles plummeted.
During the quarter, 4.45 million Switch hardware units were sold, 22% less than the 5.68 million recorded the previous year.
While the company's main console, the Nintendo Switch, achieved an increase of about 8%, the sales of its cheaper cousin, the Switch Lite, were cut by more than half.
Which Nintendo Switch is for you?
The Kyoto-based company blamed "factors such as logistical delays caused by COVID-19 and the impact of semiconductor shortages on production" for hampering its business.
He noted that last spring "it had relatively large inventories for Europe and North America," even though it also had some manufacturing problems at the time.
Software sales were also affected in the last quarter.
"Animal Crossing: New Horizons", the Switch title that was the sensation of the pandemic, stopped being the star, with only 1.3 million copies sold, compared to 10 million at the same time last year.
advertising
The game, set on an idyllic island and allowing users to fish, catch critters and play with their friends on the beach, was a bestseller for many months, accounting for 40% of the total sales of software in last year's brand.
Gold-plated Nintendo Wii for Queen Isabell II up for auction for $ 300,000
Now the story is very different.
"If we exclude the impact of 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons,'" software sales continue to "exceed those of the same quarter last year," the company said in a statement Thursday.
Until recently, Nintendo had been a big winner from the pandemic-hit economy, as people turned to their games and devices to keep themselves entertained at home.
Netflix will try to beat the competition by adding video games
The company had consistently posted one successful quarter after another, with profits sometimes skyrocketing 400%.
But it has also been beset by concerns about how long it could keep its hot streak going, especially as the world began to look beyond the pandemic.
Last month, the company announced that it would introduce a new console this fall.
The OLED model of the Nintendo Switch, which offers users an updated display of its flagship device, will go on sale in October.
Nintendo
