By Kosaku Narioka

Nintendo Co.'s first-half net profit fell 19% from a year earlier as the gaming boom caused by the Covid-19 pandemic cooled.

The Japanese videogame company said Thursday that net profit for the six-month period ended September fell to 171.83 billion yen ($1.51 billion) from Y213.12 billion, when the surge in gaming lifted its bottom line in the middle of the pandemic.

Second-quarter net profit was Y79.09 billion, given a net profit of Y92.75 billion in its first quarter, according to a Wall Street Journal calculation. That missed the estimate of Y91.74 billion taken from a Quick poll of analysts.

First-half revenue slid 19% from a year earlier to Y624.27 billion as sales of both Switch consoles and software dropped.

Second-quarter revenue was Y301.625 billion, given revenue of Y322.65 billion in the previous quarter.

Nintendo boosted its sales forecast for Switch software but lowered its projection for Switch console sales for its fiscal year ending March as a shortage of chips curbs hardware production. Nintendo expects to sell 24.0 million Switch consoles this fiscal year, down from the previous view of 25.5 million, and 200 million Switch software copies, up from the 190 million previously projected.

Nintendo maintained its fiscal-year revenue forecast and raised its net-profit view. The company continues to expect revenue to fall 9.0% to Y1.600 trillion, with net profit dropping 27% to Y350.00 billion, less sharply than its previous view of a 29% decrease.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-04-21 0358ET