NINTENDO PROFIT ZOOMS AS VIRUS HAS HOMEBODIES PLAYING GAMES

Nintendo Co.’s profit multiplied more than sixfold in April-June as people stuck at home during the pandemic turned to playing video games.

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The Japanese manufacturer of Pokemon and Super Mario games, as well as the Switch console, reported Thursday a profit of 106.4 billion yen ($1 billion) in the fiscal first quarter, up from 16.6 billion yen last year.

Quarterly sales at Kyoto-based Nintendo jumped, doubling to 358 billion yen ($3.4 billion) on-year.

Especially popular was “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” of which 10 million were sold during the three months, reaching cumulative sales of 20 million. Also popular was “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.”