Nintendo sticks to 2 million sales target for new Switch

Japanese video game maker Nintendo says it aims to sell 2 million Switch consoles in the first month after its launch.

Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima also told reporters Wednesday that the company is committed to delivering more content for smartphones.

The Switch goes on sale March 3. It is the first major hybrid console-and-hand-held game device. Kimishima said pre-orders were strong.

Nintendo officials said they were surprised by the success of "Pokemon Go," a smartphone augmented-reality game, which boosted sales of Pokemon games for Nintendo's 3DS handheld as well as sales of 3DS machines globally in recent months.

That helped Kyoto-based Nintendo, which creates Super Mario games, report a better-than-expected October-December profit of 64.7 billion yen ($569 million), more than twice its same-period profit in the previous year.