Monday morning, Nintendo posted their second quarter earnings with things going pretty well for the Japanese company. The sales of the Switch continued to grow, as did sales for the games on the system, and the 3DS continues to do well for them. Even mobile sales had a year on year increase for Nintendo, however the actual amount attributes to a tiny portion of their total profits.
The Nintendo Switch as of September 30th has sold 7.63 million units, and Nintendo is increasing their sales forecast to selling 14 million Switches in the fiscal year, which is a sizeable bump up from original target of 10 million consoles. So far, 27.48 million software titles have been sold for the Switch, and that will also increase the forecast from 35 million titles to 50 million titles. It should also be noted that during this time Nintendo struggled to meet up with demand, so if they had more consoles made, more would have likely been sold. Some of the standout numbers for software titles are Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with 4.7 million copies sold, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with 4.42 million and Splatoon 2 with 3.61 million copies sold. One of the more disappointing numbers however is for ARMS. While it had sold around 1.2 million as of July, it flatlined out basically by the end of September at 1.32 million units. While those are good numbers for a new IP, hopefully Nintendo can continue to support the game and build that IP up a bit more.
The other bits of news that come out of their financials are equally as good for Nintendo. The 3DS sales were at 2.86 million for the quarter, which puts the portable system at 68.98 million units sold over its lifetime. Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes were the two most notable performers for Nintendo’s mobile side of things, with income up 426% year on year. Those numbers will more than likely increase once Nintendo releases Animal Crossing Pocket Camp through the rest of this calendar year. All in all, things are really looking up for Nintendo, with profits all across the board, and which is up compared to the same time last year due to the phasing out of the Wii U.
Nintendo has taken a chance on the hybrid Switch, and so far it seems to be paying off. What should be noted is that in their first year sales, the PlayStation 4 had sold 14 million units and the Xbox One had sold 10 million. If Nintendo does meet their projections, that will put them just ahead of Sony and Microsoft’s systems in the first year of sales. With Mario Odyssey having just released, it’s looking like it will be a good holiday for Nintendo and they will more than likely reach their targets. Do you have a Switch or are planning on getting one? Let us know what you think about Nintendo’s successes in the comments below.
Source: Nintendo of Japan