Nintendo Co yesterday hiked the sales forecast for its hit games console Switch to 24 million devices in the year ending in March from 19 million previously as the COVID-19 pandemic boosts consumer spending on home gaming.
The jump in the sales forecast came as the Kyoto, Japan-based gaming company reported that operating profit for April to September tripled to ￥291.4 billion (US$2.8 billion) from ￥94 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Nintendo, home of the perennial Super Mario franchise, had been reluctant to hike forecasts despite blistering sales of its Switch system, saying that the boost from stuck-at-home consumers might prove transitory.
Photo: AFP
However, lockdowns and curbs imposed around the world to try to stem the spread of the virus mean entertainment options remain curtailed for many as people look toward the year-end shopping season, pointing to continued demand for gaming.
Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp are to release next-generation consoles next week, adding to competition for the mid-cycle Switch, which launched in March 2017.
Sony Interactive Entertainment chief executive officer Jim Ryan last week said that pre-release demand for its upcoming console, the PlayStation 5, is exceeding expectations, with the tech giant raising its full-year forecast.
So far, demand looks strong and Sony has reportedly boosted production targets.
However, meeting those will depend on suppliers, particularly Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which manufactures the PS5’s processor and graphics processing unit.
TSMC is already under pressure as a key producer of chips for 5G-compatible smartphones.
“Whatever Sony produces, it will sell,” said Rakuten Securities Inc analyst Yasuo Imanaka, who thinks PS5 could exceed the record 157 million PS2 units sold since the 2000 launch.
However, “everything depends on what TSMC can supply,” Imanaka said.
The video-game boom amid the pandemic is expected to send industry revenue up 20 percent this year to US$174.9 billion, outstripping earlier forecasts and dwarfing the market’s growth last year.
The projected revenue, which includes mobile, console and PC games, would climb three times faster than last year, according to new estimates from research firm Newzoo.
The firm had to make the biggest-ever adjustment in its outlook to account for pandemic bump.
Lockdowns around the world drew more people to gaming, but Newzoo does not expect this increased engagement to vanish once the pandemic eases.
The industry’s new stature would bolster growth for years to come, it said.
Revenue should increase about 9.4 percent a year from 2018 to 2023, reaching US$217.9 billion, Newzoo said.
The firm had previously forecast US$200.8 billion for 2023.
Mobile gaming should account for the biggest share of growth this year, rising an estimated 26 percent.
Additional reporting by AFP and Bloomberg
Sweeping policy changes under US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr are having a chilling effect on vaccine makers as anti-vaccine rhetoric has turned into concrete changes in inoculation schedules and recommendations, investors and executives said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has in the past year upended vaccine recommendations, with the country last month ending its longstanding guidance that all children receive inoculations against flu, hepatitis A and other diseases. The unprecedented changes have led to diminished vaccine usage, hurt the investment case for some biotechs, and created a drag that would likely dent revenues and
Macronix International Co (旺宏), the world’s biggest NOR flash memory supplier, yesterday said it would spend NT$22 billion (US$699.1 million) on capacity expansion this year to increase its production of mid-to-low-density memory chips as the world’s major memorychip suppliers are phasing out the market. The company said its planned capital expenditures are about 11 times higher than the NT$1.8 billion it spent on new facilities and equipment last year. A majority of this year’s outlay would be allocated to step up capacity of multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips, which are used in embedded multimedia cards (eMMC), a managed
CULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday schedule Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record. Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or
In the wake of strong global demand for AI applications, Taiwan’s export-oriented economy accelerated with the composite index of economic indicators flashing the first “red” light in December for one year, indicating the economy is in booming mode, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Moreover, the index of leading indicators, which gauges the potential state of the economy over the next six months, also moved higher in December amid growing optimism over the outlook, the NDC said. In December, the index of economic indicators rose one point from a month earlier to 38, at the lower end of the “red” light.
RSS