Screenshot from "Animal Crossing: New Horizons," via Nintendo
The Japan-based video game giant Nintendo — founded in 1889 as a playing-card company, and responsible for household names like Mario, Donkey Kong and Pokémon — announced a profit jump amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The state of play: In March, Nintendo "not only sold more units of their Switch console than during its launch in 2017, but sold the most consoles in a month for any platform in a decade," the Washington Post's Jon Irwin writes.
"Animal Crossing: New Horizons" is "the latest in a series of games that compel the player to plant flowers, catch bugs in nets and exist in a town inhabited by charming (and sometimes cranky) animal neighbors."
- "The desire to escape and the need to be indoors combined perfectly; a marketing A.I. couldn’t devise a product better suited to" social distancing.
- "In 11 days, 'New Horizons' sold over 11 million copies worldwide."