Nintendo Co. on Tuesday posted a record net profit for the April-December period of 408.04 billion yen ($2.75 billion) due to a weaker yen, while lifting its net profit estimate for the full year ending March as it forecast robust sales in its Switch consoles.

For the nine months ended September, net profit grew 17.9 percent from a year earlier as the weaker yen boosted its repatriated overseas earnings.

The firm also revised upward its net profit forecast for the current business year through March to 440 billion yen from its earlier projection of 420 billion yen.

Group sales are now expected to climb 1.8 percent from the year before to 1.63 trillion yen, revised up from the previously estimated 1.58 trillion yen. Operating profit is forecast to grow 1.1 percent to 510 billion yen, up from the earlier forecast of 500 billion yen, the gaming company said.

Overall sales of the popular Switch game consoles slumped 7.8 percent in the nine months to 13.74 million units, while that of software titles dropped 4.7 percent to 163.95 million units.

"Sales (of the console) have been sufficiently steady. We will continue to center our business on the Switch for the next quarter," President Shuntaro Furukawa said at an online press conference.

However, he did not elaborate on a successor console to the Switch, which has been the subject of much speculation.

The Kyoto-based company expects sales of its Switch consoles to total 15.5 million units in the current fiscal year, revised up from the 15 million units forecast in November, and Switch software to sell 190 million copies, up from an earlier estimate of 185 million.

For the nine months ended December, its operating profit grew 13.1 percent to 464.41 billion yen on sales of 1.39 trillion yen, up 7.7 percent.

The success of the blockbuster film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" also helped boost sales of Mario-related games, the company said.

==Kyodo

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