Nintendo Co. said Tuesday that global sales of its popular Switch game console fell 20.0 percent in fiscal 2021 from a year earlier, with the global semiconductor shortage a factor in the console's first drop in sales since its release in 2017.

The Kyoto-based gaming giant sold 23.06 million units in the year through March, down from 28.83 million units in fiscal 2020. For the current business year, Nintendo forecasts sales of 21 million units as the chip drought is expected to continue disrupting production.

President Shuntaro Furukawa told a press conference it is difficult to foresee when the chip shortfall will be resolved.

Partly due to the slower Switch console sales, the company's net profit fell 0.6 percent from a year earlier to 477.69 billion yen ($3.7 billion) in fiscal 2021.

The decline followed a record net profit of 480.38 billion yen in fiscal 2020 on robust sales of its game titles, including the smash hit "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" and Switch consoles.

In the reporting year, operating profit declined 7.5 percent to 592.76 billion yen while sales sagged 3.6 percent to 1.70 trillion yen.

According to Nintendo, the popularity of Switch games has not waned, as it sold 235.07 million units of game titles for the device, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier.

For the current fiscal year that started in April, Nintendo expects a 28.8 percent decrease in net profit to 340 billion yen.

It projects an operating profit of 500 billion yen, down 15.6 percent from a year earlier, with sales down 5.6 percent to 1.60 trillion yen.

==Kyodo

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