Tariffs and memory-chip costs pressure Nintendo’s full-year forecast
Nintendo Co.’s first-quarter profit rose to 147.4 billion yen, or $933 million, from 96 billion yen in the same three months last year, a gain of 53.5%, according to results reported Thursday. The company, based in Kyoto, Japan, attributed the jump to solid demand for its Switch 2 gaming console working alongside the popularity of its recent Super Mario movie.
Nintendo said Switch 2 sales totaled 3.82 million machines globally. Its older Switch business is still holding up, the company said, with both console and software sales continuing even as consumers showed demand for the newer machine.
Revenue moved in the opposite direction. Quarterly sales dipped 9.5% to 517.8 billion yen, or $3.3 billion.
Working as a negative for Nintendo, as with many Japanese companies, were tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, as well as the rising price of memory chips and other components.
The headwinds temper the company’s expectations for the year ahead. Nintendo is forecasting 310 billion yen, or $2 billion, in profit for the full fiscal year through March 2027, down nearly 27% from the previous fiscal year. It projects annual sales of 2.05 trillion yen, or $13 billion, a decline of 11%.
The results continue a run of strong earnings reports from Japanese manufacturers. As covered here in recent weeks, Honda posted 450 billion yen in quarterly profit and raised its outlook, while Nissan posted its first quarterly profit in two years. Nintendo also raised the Switch 2’s price in Japan earlier this year, citing tariff pressures.