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OSAKA, Japan – The CEO of Nintendo Co. said the company was about to sell 20 million Switch consoles as planned, despite analysts' expectations waning, citing a shortage of new and successful games .
The Kyoto-based company sold just over five million units of the console during the first half of the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.
"Switch's momentum is what we expect," Shuntaro Furukawa, general manager, told a news conference. "The goal of 20 million euros is not an easy target, but the holiday season is when we get the biggest income."
Analysts generally believe that Nintendo will not measure up. Goldman Sachs analyst Masaru Sugiyama predicts that Nintendo will sell 16.47 million units in this fiscal year, which ends in March, saying that the software planned for this year will interest Nintendo's main fans, but that they will not develop the base.
The biggest Nintendo titles released this year include "Mario Tennis Aces", which was launched in June and sold 780,000 copies between July and September, and "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze", released in May to 270,000 copies. the same period.
Analysts also spoke of a disappointing start for the Nintendo Labo kits, which contain cardboard sheets that can be turned into toys such as a fishing rod, a doll's house or a mini piano and combined with the Switch.
Nintendo said it would contribute to Labo's long-term success. Last week, the company announced that it would bring this kit to some elementary school classrooms in the United States.
Nintendo plans to release Pokémon games next month and "Super Smash Bros." Ultimate "in December. Both are big franchises that can also increase hardware sales.
On games for smartphones, Nintendo is associated with the developer of Japanese game applications Cygames Inc. to launch, at the end of September, a role-playing game called "Dragalia Lost", a new franchise for Nintendo. Furukawa said the match had started well.
While Nintendo did not meet analysts' earnings forecasts for the July-September quarter, its operating profit for the period was up 30 percent from the previous year, to 30.9 billion yen ( $ 274 million). The turnover is stable at 220.7 billion yen.
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at [email protected]
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