Nintendo reported a very positive result in their financial report to investors, but the company warns investors that COVID-19 will definitely harm software and hardware sales. The tech giant forecast a 9.6 percent drop in Switch and Switch Lite sales, and 17 percent less games being sold by March 31, 2021.
“There are restrictions on sales channels in each country due to measures to prevent the spread of the virus including restrictions on movement outside the home and closure of retail stores, and this effect may be prolonged,” the company said. “Also, if physical distribution is suspended, we will not be able to sell hardware or packaged software through e-commerce. In addition, there is a possibility that provision of those services offered via our network may be suspended in the event that we are no longer able to maintain the stability of our network systems.”
“The situation regarding COVID-19 is changing day-by-day around the world, so we will carefully monitor trends while continuing to gather information and taking the measures necessary to minimize the impact of these concerns,” the company said.
Nintendo suggest that there are perhaps, bigger issues to be considered, beyond the manufacturing and distribution of consoles. COVID-19 is affecting countries differently, governments chose different strategies tailored to their needs. Nintendo suggest that foreign exchange rates will change, this would inevitably affect the hardware sales as there are just too many variables and risk “difficult to foresee.”
On a positive note, Nintendo informed investors that, as of March 31st, the Nintendo Switch has sold 55.77 million units worldwide. In addition, 356.24 million software units have been sold worldwide.
Nintendo counts with some unannounced games, and some upcoming games like Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and DLC for Pokémon Sword and Shield, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Source: GamesIndustry
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