TOKYO (AP) — Nintendo’s first quarter profit surged 53.5% as the popularity of its recent Super Mario movie worked with solid demand for the Switch 2 gaming console to support the Japanese video-game company’s bottom line.
Kyoto-based Nintendo Co. reported Thursday 147.4 billion yen ($933 million) in April-June profit, up from 96 billion yen in the same period a year ago.
Quarterly sales dipped 9.5% to 517.8 billion yen ($3.3 billion).
Working as a negative for Nintendo, as with many Japanese companies, were U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as well as the rising price of memory chips and other components.
Nintendo is forecasting 310 billion yen ($2 billion) in profit for the full fiscal year through March 2027, down nearly 27% from the previous fiscal year, on annual sales slipping 11% to 2.05 trillion yen ($13 billion).
Nintendo said sales of Switch 2 machines totaled 3.82 million globally. Nintendo’s older Switch business is still holding up, with both console and software sales continuing, even as the new machine is also in demand.
In Switch 2 software, “Yoshi and the Mysterious Book,” released in May, and “Pokemon Pokopia,” released last year, were popular, leading to software sales totaling 9.46 million units for the quarter, according to Nintendo.
“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” raked in 517.8 billion yen ($3.3 billion), much of it from overseas.
The Nintendo Switch 2, which went on sale in June last year, is still going strong, the company said.
Nintendo hopes to keep building on the momentum by adding more games to the lineup, including “Splatoon Raiders,” which went on sale last month, as well as new games in the works, such as “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.”
Nintendo is projecting Switch 2 console sales to total 16.5 million units for the fiscal year, down nearly 17% from the previous year. Console sales tend to drop after the first strong year.
Nintendo is expecting strong game software sales at 60 million units for the fiscal year, up 23%.
Nintendo shares jumped 2.9% in Tokyo trading after earnings results were announced.
Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama
FILE -A Nintendo logo is seen June 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani military helicopters on Thursday airlifted the bodies of five climbers from the snow-covered slopes of Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, officials said.
Irfan Arshad Khan, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said the remains of the climbers killed in the July 31 avalanche were being transferred to a military hospital in the northern city of Skardu.
Three bodies were brought off the mountain on Aug. 1. Thursday's airlift raised the number of recovered bodies to eight, including renowned British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja. Two climbers remain missing and the search is ongoing following what the Alpine Club described as one of Pakistan’s deadliest mountaineering disasters.
The bodies of Purja, Chinese climber Zhong Wang, Nepali climbers Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa and Kilu Sherpa were flown from the base camp of Broad Peak to the air base in Skardu before being transported to the hospital, regional authorities said.
The international team of climbers came from Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, China, Britain and the United States. The bodies will be flown to Pakistan's capital Islamabad after coordination with the embassies of the climbers’ home countries, officials said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar this week expressed condolences to the victims’ families, saying he was deeply saddened by the tragedy and that Pakistan remained committed to the recovery operation in coordination with the Nepal, Oman, U.K. and U.S. embassies.
Mountaineering accidents are common in northern Pakistan, where climbers face hazards including avalanches, falling ice and rock, extreme altitude and rapidly changing weather.
A Chinese climber died last year after being struck by falling rocks while descending K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.
The bodies of foreign climbers who die attempting to summit Pakistan’s mountains are typically recovered only at the request of their families and governments. If relatives decline recovery efforts, the remains are usually left on the mountain where the climbers died.
On Wednesday, the Alpine Club thanked the Pakistani and Nepali recovery teams, including Pakistani mountaineers Sirbaz Khan, Abid Beg and Sherzad and Nepali climbers Dipen Gurung and Pemba Chhewang Sherpa for their roles in the difficult recovery operation.
Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan.
A Pakistan army helicopter carrying bodies of climbers, that were recovered from Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, prepares to land at a military base in Skardu, in northern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/ M.H. Balti)
Pakistani army soldiers prepare to load into an ambulance, the body of renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, that was recovered from Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, upon arrival at military base in Skardu, in northern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug 6, 2026. (AP Photo/ M.H. Balti)
Pakistani army soldiers and volunteers prepare to load into ambulances, the bodies of climbers, that were recovered from Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, upon arrival at a military base in Skardu, in northern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/ M.H. Balti)
Pakistani army soldiers and volunteers prepare to load into ambulances, the bodies of climbers, that were recovered from Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, upon arrival at a military base in Skardu, in northern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/ M.H. Balti)
Pakistani army soldiers and volunteers unload from a helicopter the bodies of climbers, that were recovered from Broad Peak nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, upon arrival at a military base in Skardu, in northern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/ M.H. Balti)
