By Kosaku Narioka

Nintendo maintained its annual forecasts for Switch 2 sales and net profit even as it reported sharply higher nine-month results, boosted by the popularity of the new gaming device.

The Japanese videogame maker started selling the console in June, aiming to build on the success of its predecessor, whose popularity was amplified by a pandemic-driven videogame boom.

U.S. market-research firm Circana said in January that Switch 2 was the best-selling game console in the U.S. by both volume and value in December and the year overall, beating its main competitor, Sony Group's PlayStation 5.

The new device, which retails for about $450 in the U.S., features a larger, more responsive screen with enhanced graphics performance.

Nintendo on Tuesday said it continues to expect to sell 19 million Switch 2 consoles by the end of March. It also reiterated guidance for net profit to climb 25.5% to 350.00 billion yen, equivalent to $2.25 billion, for the year ending March.

The company's projections appear conservative given its strong performance. Net profit for the nine months ended December rose 51% from a year earlier to Y358.86 billion, exceeding the full-year forecast, as revenue nearly doubled to Y1.906 trillion.

The outlook also implies 1.6 million Switch 2 sales in January to March, given the 17.4 million units sold as of December--a relatively low bar to clear. In the March quarter last year, it sold 1.3 million units of the old Switch.

The caution comes as hardware manufacturers are facing mounting headwinds from soaring prices for memory chips and related components, driven by the artificial-intelligence boom reshaping the tech industry.

Investor concerns about pricier components--especially memory chips--eroding the company's profit have already weighed on its stock, which has fallen nearly 5% this year and underperformed the market.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa sounded a positive note, however, saying at a briefing Tuesday that the company has been working with business partners to secure long-term stable supply of memory parts, and that it doesn't expect the recent surge in memory chip prices to materially affect results this fiscal year.

Still, he cautioned that elevated memory prices could weigh on profitability if they persisted.

The Kyoto-based company has been trying to diversify its revenue streams beyond videogames. It has expanded into movies, theme parks and other forms of entertainment by leveraging its popular characters and game titles.

There are a few major projects in the pipeline, including "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," due to be released worldwide by Universal Pictures in April, and a live-action film based on Nintendo's popular game series "The Legend of Zelda," scheduled for 2027.

For the nine months ended December, intellectual property-related income fell 10% to Y54.5 billion due to lower movie-related revenue.

Nintendo continues to expect to sell 48 million Switch 2 software copies by the end of March. It sold 37.9 million copies as of December. Racing game "Mario Kart World," released on the same day as the hardware, sold 14.0 million copies, while action-adventure game "Donkey Kong Bananza," released in July, sold 4.25 million copies.

The company also backed its expectation for revenue to increase 93% to Y2.250 trillion this fiscal year.

--Yang Jie in Tokyo contributed to this article.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 03, 2026 05:48 ET (10:48 GMT)

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