Nintendo Profits Jump 39% Thanks To Switch Games And 'Super Smash Bros'

Nintendo Co., Ltd., the Japanese video game maker forever associated with Mario and Luigi, reported a 39 percent jump in its full-year net profit for the fiscal year ending March on strong sales of blockbuster game titles for its popular Nintendo Switch video game console.

It said its annual profit came to $1.7 billion while annual sales rose 14 percent to $10.7 billion. Nintendo said its more popular Switch games included “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” which sold 13.8 million units. "Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu!" and "Pokemon Let's Go, Eevee!" sold more than 10 million units.

"The results for this fiscal year showed strong software sales for Nintendo Switch, which contributed to the expansion of hardware sales," said Nintendo in a statement.

Switch console sales are projected to rise six percent to 18 million units for the current fiscal year. There are plans to release "Super Mario Maker 2,” "Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield" and "The Legend of Zelda" within the year.

Nintendo’s newest portable console, the Switch, introduced in 2017, has become a huge global seller. Switch’s popularity is being helped by the release of innovative, family-friendly titles that have impressed critics and gamers alike.

Nintendo’s shares surged more than 12 percent since news reports earlier this month said Switch and its games will soon be available in China via tech giant Tencent. That’s not the case today, however.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa doused these expectations after revealing the 2018 results, saying the China launch is far off and there are no plans to unveil a new Switch at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in the U.S. in June.

Analysts were disappointed at the announcement.

“We expected launch in China is likely to be an extra boost to its growth for the current fiscal year," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Research Institute in Tokyo.

There is, however, persistent speculation Nintendo will soon launch a smaller version of Switch, which will make up for the shrinking market share of its 3DS portable games.

For the current fiscal year to March 2020, Nintendo forecasts its bottom-line profit falling by 7.2 percent but revealed a higher sales goal.