Nintendo doubles profit forecast on soaring sales

The Switch, and its range of games, have turned the fortune of Nintendo.

Nintendo has almost doubled its profit forecasts for the year on the back of soaring sales of its new Switch console.

The Japanese videogames maker said it had already sold 7.63 million Switches since launching the product in March and expects that figure to reach 14 million by the end of its financial year, more units than its predecessor the Wii U sold in its lifetime.

The Switch is a "hybrid" console that can either be hooked up to a television or used on-the-go and sells for $548 in New Zealand. Nintendo previously said it expected to sell 10 million this year and was struggling to keep up with demand.

Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishama said: "We have boosted Switch production in order to meet strong demand from our customers as it was difficult for customers to buy the consoles at retail stores."

The Kyoto-based company said it now expects to make an attributable profit of ¥85bn (NZ$1b) in the year to March 2018, up from a forecast of ¥45b back in April.

Revenues in the six months to September were up 173 per cent on the previous year at ¥374b, buoyed by software sales. Nintendo said it sold 22 million games in the period, with shooter Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe proving particularly popular.

The Switch marks a significant turnaround for Nintendo, after its Wii U struggled to compete with Sony's Playstation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, and increasingly popular smartphone games like Candy Crush and Angry Birds.

Nintendo's shares have doubled to ¥42,870 since the new console was announced, reaching highs not seen since the financial crisis.

The company posted an attributable profit of ¥51b in the period, up 34.5 per cent on last year.