Nintendo’s profit drops from last year’s pandemic boom

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese video game maker Nintendo says its profit dropped 19% in the first half of its fiscal year. It had received a big lift in the previous year as people stuck at home by the coronavirus pandemic turned to its products. Kyoto-based Nintendo, which is behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games, reported a $1.5 billion profit for the April-September period. Fiscal half sales slipped 19%. A shortage of computer chips caused by the pandemic is hurting production of the Nintendo Switch machines. Nintendo lowered its Switch sales forecast for the second half of its fiscal year by 1.5 million units to 24 million. The year-end holidays are critical for Nintendo’s sales.