Nintendo profits almost double on pandemic sales

Nintendo saw its profits soar worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic last year, the company announced on Monday. 

The Japanese video game maker said profits from last April to December spiked from 196 billion yen to 376.6 billion yen, the equivalent of about $3.6 billion. 

The company’s sales over the nine months jumped 37 percent to 1.4 trillion yen, or about $13 billion, The Associated Press reported.

Nintendo also said sales of its Switch gaming consoles almost doubled to 24 million toward the end of the year. 

Those gains were boosted by the always important holiday shopping rush between October and the end of the calendar year. 

“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and “Super Mario 3D All-Stars” were in high demand among customers for downloads and purchases, the company said, according to the AP. 

The company is estimating a profit of about 400 billion yen, or $3.8 billion, by March, well outpacing its forecast of 300 billion yen or $2.9 billion. 

Earlier this month, the company announced the opening of a planned theme park in Osaka would be delayed again due to coronavirus health and safety measures there. 

Several areas of Japan remain under a state of emergency, with the 2020 Olympic Games originally scheduled to take place in Tokyo delayed and now tentatively scheduled to start in July.