TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese videogame maker Nintendo Co Ltd raised its annual profit forecast by 18% on Tuesday as a softer yen helped offset slower-than-expected Switch console sales.
Nintendo, which earns about 80% of its revenues overseas, expects its net profit to come to 400 billion yen ($2.73 billion) for the year to March 2023, up from the previous forecast of 340 billion yen.
The new projection still falls short of the consensus forecast of a 463 billion yen profit, based on a Refinitiv poll of 21 analysts.
The creator of such blockbuster titles as “Super Mario Bros.” and “Legend of Zelda” cut its Switch console sales forecast for the business year to 19 million units from 21 million.
Nintendo changed its assumption for the dollar-yen rate to 135 from 115 to reflect the sharp depreciation of the Japanese currency this year.
Nintendo sold 6.68 million units of its Switch console in the six months to September 30, down from 8.28 million a year earlier. The console is in its sixth year on the market.
The company said in September its latest “Splatoon” title, in which players engage in an inky turf battle, sold more than 3.45 million units in Japan in the three days following its Sept. 9 launch, its highest-ever domestic launch sales.
($1 = 146.7700 yen)
(Reporting by Kiyoshi TakenakaEditing by Chang-Ran Kim)
