Nintendo has raised its forecasts for the current fiscal year, as the company expects stronger sales of its Switch console and software. This was announced by the Japanese video game manufacturer on Tuesday during the release of its annual report for the nine months leading up to December.

The profit increased by 18 percent thanks to the success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," amounting to 408.04 billion yen (2.96 billion euros). Revenue grew by 7.7 percent to 1.395 trillion yen.

Translation:
The company now expects net profit for the current fiscal year to increase by 1.7 percent to 440 billion yen (2.96 billion euros). This is a significant improvement over the original forecast of a decline of 3.0 percent. Revenue is also expected to increase by 1.8 percent to 1.63 trillion yen, rather than decreasing by 1.4 percent as previously assumed.

Nintendo expects to sell 15.5 million Switch consoles in the current fiscal year, representing an increase over the original forecast of 15.0 million units. Sales of Switch software are also projected to rise from 185.0 million to 190.0 million units.

A key factor behind Nintendo's success over the past nine months was the blockbuster "The Super Mario Bros. Movie". The film not only enjoyed great box office success, but also drove increased sales of software and hardware. Overall, the company reported a 93 percent increase in sales of mobile games and additional revenue from intellectual property.

The Nintendo stock reached new all-time highs again and again in recent weeks, driven by expectations of further strong earnings from the Japanese gaming giant. The positive development of revenue from the film business had a significant influence on this.