Photo/Illutration The OLED model of Nintendo Co.’s game console, the Nintendo Switch (Provided by Nintendo Co.)

A semiconductor shortage hampered sales in fiscal 2021 of Nintendo Co.’s hugely popular Switch game console, which fell 20 percent from a year earlier to 23.06 million units--its first year-on-year decline.

The global gaming company released its earnings report on May 10 for the fiscal year ending in March, showing sales for the Nintendo Switch were down roughly 2.5 million units from its initial projection.

Nintendo also reported a year-on-year drop in its overall sales and profits for fiscal 2021.

Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa gave a cautious outlook for his company’s businesses at a news conference on May 10, citing uncertainty over supply chains for semiconductors and other parts.

The company posted 1.6953 trillion yen ($13 billion) in net sales in fiscal 2021, down 3.6 percent from a year earlier. Its operating profit declined 7.5 percent to 592.7 billion yen, while its net profit dropped by 0.6 percent to 477.6 billion yen.

The earnings decline was fueled by a drop in sales of Nintendo’s popular gaming software “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” from fiscal 2020, when it became a massive hit as people spent more time at home amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company said it plans this fiscal year to sell 21 million units of its Nintendo Switch, which first went on sale six years ago, down 8.9 percent from a year earlier.

Nintendo is enjoying brisk sales of its gaming software. It had sold 107.65 million units of the Nintendo Switch as of the end of March.

The figure was the third largest among the company’s top-selling game consoles following the Nintendo DS and Game Boy, enabling the firm to build a business model to boost its earnings from sales of software dedicated to its hardware.

Nintendo plans to release “Splatoon 3,” a sequel to the popular video game series, in September and the latest entries in the "Pokemon" series in winter.

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