Nintendo says halting sales in Russia had a “negligible effect” on profits

Nintendo has said that halting sales in Russia since the country’s invasion of Ukraine has had a small and “negligible effect” on the company’s financial results.

This comes from Nintendo’s 82nd annual general meeting of shareholders, with its Q&A segment now having a full English translation. This was the same meeting that saw a fan ask the company about bringing back franchises like F-Zero.

During the meeting, one shareholder asked about Nintendo’s future business with Russia – after it invaded Ukraine back in February of this year – and its neighboring European region.

President Shuntaro Furukawa replied: “Since the payment provider for Nintendo eShop (which operates the digital business) in Russia has suspended transactions in Russian rubles, the Russian Nintendo eShop has been in maintenance mode since March 4.

“In addition, due to the suspension of Nintendo eShop operations and logistical difficulties, for the time being, we are not shipping any products, including physical products, to Russia. We will not discuss the specific amount of impact, but this issue has a negligible effect on our overall financial results since sales in Russia are only a small part of overall sales for the Nintendo group.”

Furukawa mentioned in his answer that Nintendo halted shipments to Russia and even closed down the eShop in the region as well, and it appears that both of these measures are still in place whilst the conflict in Ukraine is ongoing.

Nintendo senior executive officer Satoru Shibata added that Nintendo is “giving serious thought to how to handle this going forward, in light of changing world affairs,” and said that sales in Europe are still going steady as the Nintendo Switch enters its sixth year.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to impact the games industry, as Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World recently confirmed the game had been delayed after the studio moved out of its home country of Ukraine.

In other news, itch.io is selling around 800 games for a minimum of £8 in support of US abortion rights funds.