Nintendo nets $1B profit

tokyo — Nintendo made a $1 billion net profit in the first quarter, it said on Thursday, with gamers stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic driving extraordinary demand for the industry.

The global health crisis has had devastating economic consequences across a broad range of industries but the gaming sector has been a rare beneficiary of lockdowns that kept people indoors around the world. Nintendo said it raked in ¥106.5 billion for the three months to June, a more than six-fold increase from ¥16.6 billion a year earlier.

Sales more than doubled to ¥358 billion as demand for its popular Switch console showed no sign of dying down, even as the device entered the crucial fourth year since its launch.

“Sales for the entire Nintendo Switch family rose 166.6 percent year-on-year to 5.68 million units,” the firm said. —