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Entertainment giant Nintendo announced record profits as millions turned to its games in quarantine. The pandemic ending, according to one analyst, would be a "horror story" for the company.   © Illustration by Hiroko Aida/Source photo by Ken Kobayashi
The Big Story

Exclusive: Nintendo chief plots post-Animal Crossing future

Pandemic gaming boom lifts profits, but console wars are set to intensify

JADA NAGUMO, Nikkei staff writer | Japan

TOKYO/KYOTO -- It was mid-March, just as the world was beginning to witness the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus. The World Health Organization had just declared a pandemic. In an apartment near Indiana State University, 23-year-old Emma Barnard had decided to self-isolate, struggling with allergy symptoms and chest pains.

She found herself straining to breathe, preventing her from doing any physical activity. "I was in bed all day with nothing to do," the student said. Housebound, her thoughts churned: Did she have the disease? Would the pandemic soon run its course?

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