Nintendo cut its annual forecasts for Switch sales and revenue after disappointing first-half results, reflecting its challenges in shoring up earnings without a new console despite some successes in its diversification efforts.

The Japanese videogame maker said Tuesday that net profit dropped 60% from a year earlier to 108.66 billion yen, equivalent to $714.2 million, for the six months ended Sept. 30. That missed the Y134.7 billion estimate in a poll of analysts by data provider Visible Alpha.

The company now expects to sell 12.5 million Switch consoles for the fiscal year ending March 2025, down from 13.5 million units forecast previously, and 160 million software copies, lower than its previous view of 165 million copies.

Nintendo has said it will announce a successor to its aging Switch console, now in its eighth year on the market, by the end of March. It has sold 146.0 million Switch units as of September.

Shares in the Kyoto-based company have risen 4% this year, underperforming the Nikkei Stock Average's 15% gain, as it keeps fans and investors in the dark about its next-generation console.

The Japanese videogame maker has been diversifying its revenue streams, offering other forms of entertainment by leveraging its popular characters and game series.

On Thursday, it launched a mobile app that lets users download and stream game soundtracks.

Nintendo also plans to produce new films based on the "Super Mario" and "The Legend of Zelda" game series.

Last month, it opened a museum showcasing its past gadgets and popular games after renovating a factory that once produced Hanafuda playing cards, its first-ever product.

First-half revenue declined 34% from a year earlier to Y523.30 billion as Switch hardware sales dropped 31% to 4.72 million units and software sales fell 28% to 70.28 million copies.

Console and software sales in the year-earlier period were boosted by hit title "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

Mobile and intellectual property-related income fell 43% to Y31.2 billion from a high base owing to the blockbuster success of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" last year.

Nintendo cut its revenue forecast but maintained its view for net profit to drop 39% to Y300.00 billion for the year ending March. It now expects revenue for the fiscal year to decline 23% to Y1.280 trillion, compared with its previous forecast of a 19% fall.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at [email protected]