Switch driving sales at Nintendo as 'foreign exchange losses' cut profits

Profits are down at Nintendo, despite Switch hardware and software continuing to drive sales at the Japanese console maker. 

According to the company's fiscal report for the three months ended June 30, net sales rose by 2.4 percent year-over-year to 172.1 billion yen ($1.58 billion), while profits fell by 45.7 percent to 16.6 billion yen ($152.7 million) over the same period. 

On the software front, Nintendo singled out Super Mario Maker 2 for praise, and revealed the community-driven title has sold 2.42 million units since launching on June 28. 

It also claimed sales of existing first and third-party titles remain strong, noting that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 1.2 million units during the quarter, cementing its place as the best-selling Switch title to date with 17.89 million lifetime sales. 

As a result of those performances, overall software sales rose by 25.9 percent year-on-year to 22.62 million units. 

Switch hardware sales were also on the up, with the hybrid console selling 2.13 million units during the first quarter, which is a year-on-year increase of 13.2 percent. That means the Switch has now sold 36.87 million units worldwide since launching on March 3, 2017. 

As has become the norm in recent times, 3DS hardware sales continued to decline, and fell by 44.9 percent to 0.2 million units. 3DS software followed suit, with sales tumbling by 49.7 percent to 1.48 million units.

Over on mobile, Nintendo explained "many consumers continue to enjoy" existing titles, helping boost its IP related income on smartphones by 10 percent year over year to 10 billion yen ($92 million). 

Commenting on its downturn in profits, Nintendo added that it had been hit by "foreign exchange losses of 12 billion yen ($110 million) and other factors."

Moving forward, the company hasn't revised its financial forecast, and is still predicting sales of 1.25 trillion yen ($11.2 billion) and profits of 180 billion yen ($1.6 billion) by the end of the fiscal year.

Curiously, Nintendo also hasn't altered its Switch hardware sales forecast, and still expects to sell 18 million units by March 2020 despite bringing the cheaper, handheld-only Switch Lite to market in September.