Nintendo's 1Q Net Profit Surges 54%

By Ronnie Harui and Kosaku Narioka

Nintendo reported a 54% surge in first-quarter net profit, topping expectations thanks to factors including foreign-exchange gains and U.S. tariff refunds.

The Japanese videogame maker said Thursday that net profit rose to 147.42 billion yen, equivalent to $934.4 million, for the three months ended June, from Y96.03 billion a year earlier. That beat the estimate of Y74.40 billion in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

Revenue fell to Y517.81 billion in the first quarter from Y572.36 billion a year earlier, while operating profit rose to Y142.60 billion from Y56.93 billion. For the fiscal year ending March 2027, Nintendo kept its projections for revenue of Y2.050 trillion and net profit of Y310.00 billion.

Nintendo, which recorded foreign-exchange gains of Y16.8 billion during the quarter, attributed its strong results to refunds of U.S. tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that had previously been recorded as cost of sales, as well as solid software sales.

The Japanese company maintained its forecast to sell 16.5 million units of Switch 2 consoles this fiscal year, despite weakness in the first quarter. It sold 3.82 million units during the period, compared with 5.82 million units in the year-earlier period.

Nintendo began selling the Switch 2 console in June last year, aiming to build on the success of the original Switch console that got a boost from a pandemic-driven videogame boom. The new device features a larger, more responsive screen with enhanced graphics performance.

Analysts expect videogame-console makers to face mounting headwinds from surging memory-chip prices.

Nintendo said in May that it would raise Switch 2 console prices in Japan, the U.S. and some other regions. The device will cost about $500 in the U.S. from September, up from about $450 currently.

The Kyoto-based company has been trying to diversify its revenue streams beyond videogames. It has expanded into movies, theme parks and other forms of entertainment by leveraging its popular characters and game titles.

Nintendo recently signed a licensing partnership with Hasbro, allowing the U.S. company to create toys based on videogame franchise "The Legend of Zelda."

"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," its second animated film based on the popular videogame series, proved a big success since its global release in April. A live-action film based on "The Legend of Zelda" is scheduled for 2027.

Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com and Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 06, 2026 04:23 ET (08:23 GMT)