Nintendo experiences a surge in profits as people stay at home due to COVID-19 lockdowns

Nintendo recently reported its total earnings in 2020, and it turned out that it has made quite a lot of money even in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the Japanese video-game maker revealed that experienced a surge in profit during this time as people remained stuck in their homes due to the lockdowns.

Nintendo’s gains after a big influx of orders and sale

Nintendo posted a profit increase of around $3.6 billion just for the months of April to December 2020. The company stated on Monday, Feb. 1, that its earnings for the first three fiscal quarters of last year almost doubled since people around the world turned to playing games while staying at home during the pandemic.

As per the Associated Press, the Japanese gaming consumer electronics and video game company that is popularly known as the developer of “Super Mario” and “Pokemon” game franchises shared that the ¥376.6 billion or $3.6 billion profit in the previous year is a 37% jump to the company’s overall earnings. The gains in the nine months period pushed the figures to ¥1.4 trillion or $13 billion.

The pandemic also brought back many games and became popular once again in the Nintendo Switch console. Game software including "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," "Super Mario 3D All-Stars," and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" have all been in demand during the lockdowns.

The bestsellers amid the COVID-19 crisis

Many businesses have suffered and closed down due to the coronavirus crisis, and if there is one industry that benefited a lot from it, it is the entertainment and gaming sectors. With the restrictions imposed on homes worldwide, people started to look for entertainment more since there is not much to do.

This was one of the reasons why Nintendo’s sales have gone up, especially during the year-end online holiday shopping. The company’s biggest seller is said to be the Nintendo Switch consoles, where 12.5 million units have been sold in the first half of the year.

BBC News reported that the sales in the first two quarters of 2020 doubled in the second half, bringing the total to 24 million. Included in the bestsellers was the Nintendo Switch Lite version of the console.

"The pandemic was a key factor, but the current strong performance underscores the Switch's high popularity," Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Tokyo’s Ace Research Institute, said.