By Yuri Kageyama, Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) --Nintendo's profit in the April-June quarter rose 28% from a year earlier on healthy demand for its games, although its console sales were dented by a shortage of semiconductors.
The Japanese video game maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises said Wednesday its profit in the last quarter totaled 118.9 billion yen ($895 million), up from 92.7 billion yen in the same period in 2021.
Quarterly sales fell 4.7% to 307.4 billion yen ($2.3 billion), according to Kyoto-based Nintendo Co.
Other game makers, such as Sony Group Corp., automakers like Toyota Motor Corp. and other manufacturers have been hurt by shortfalls in supplies of the chips that run most modern products.
While those supply chain disruptions are largely due to the pandemic, game companies got a big boost in demand from COVID-19, which had people stuck at home and turning to games for entertainment. As pandemic precautions ease, that spike in sales is wearing off.
Hit games have also driven console sales, such as "Animal Crossing: New Horizons." Among the games that were released and did well during the last quarter were "Nintendo Switch Sports," which sold 4.84 million units, and "Mario Strikers: Battle League."
Previously released games with strong sales included "Kirby and the Forgotten Land" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe." Sales were also strong for downloaded digital games.
Nintendo sold 22% fewer Switch consoles during the latest quarter, at 3.4 million units, compared to the same period last year. Cumulative sales topped 111.08 million units.
The company expects to sell 21 million Switch machines for the fiscal year. More than 100 million users played the Switch over the last year, according to Nintendo.
The company kept its profit forecast for the fiscal year through March 2023 unchanged at 340 billion yen ($2.6 billion).
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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