It's time for Nintendo to take stock, and the sun has never looked so bright in Mushroom Kingdom.
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| Nintendo: Stunning numbers for Nintendo Switch, and it's not even Christmas... |
Based on the results of the first half of the year, Nintendo is in very good shape. Over the six-month period from April to September, the giant's net sales increased by 21.2% compared to the previous period, with a turnover of 796.2 billion yen (or 5.0 billion yen. euros) and sales up by 17.7%. Its net profit reached 271.2 billion yen (1.7 billion euros). Another interesting fact is that sales outside Japan accounted for 78.3% of total sales, or 623.6 billion yen ($3.9 billion). "Sales in the first half of the fiscal year were the strongest since the launch of Nintendo Switch" (referring only to Nintendo's previous earnings in the first and second quarters) The company announced that it was pleased with these record numbers. This is a very good result, considering that the console is celebrating its seventh anniversary.
Switch sales are good, but summer is weak
Nintendo also benefited from a 2.4% increase in hardware sales in the first six months of the fiscal year compared to the same period a year earlier, with 6.84 million additional hybrid consoles sold. Japan accounts for 31.87 per cent of computer hardware sales, far more than North America's 29.67 per cent and Europe's 22.95 per cent. However, it was the Switch's weakest summer since its launch, with 2.93 million consoles shipped between July and September.
Currently, the OLED model of the Switch game console continues to lead the fiscal year with sales of 4.69 million units, followed by the Standard model (1.25 million units) and the Lite model (9 million units). The manufacturer maintained its forecast of selling 15 million Switch units by the end of its fiscal year in March 2024. Total Switch fleet sales currently reach 132.46 million units worldwide. By comparison, the Nintendo DS has a total of 154 million. As a result, the Switch, with just over 21 million units sold, will become Nintendo’s best-selling console in history.
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| Nintendo Stunning numbers for Nintendo Switch, and it's not even Christmas... |
We are still seeing a global decline in consoles. In Nintendo's last fiscal year, Switch sales were already down 22% from the previous year. If the target of 15 million is reached this year, it will fall by a further 16.5%.
Return of accepted licences.
When it comes to games, Nintendo is also doing well. Unit sales increased by 1.8% year-on-year to 97.1 million units. Looking at the digital market alone (including sales of games on the eShop, DLC and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions), sales this time increased by 15.8% to 217.5 billion yen (€1.3 billion). According to the company, the steep rise is due to the depreciation of the yen.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is no stranger. The sequel to the cult episode sold 19.5 million copies, making it one of the top ten selling games on Switch since the launch of the hybrid console. This is not surprising when you know that the game sold 10 million copies worldwide in just three days. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold 31.15 million copies since its launch. This means that Tears of the Kingdom has already reached half that number in just over four months.
Pikmin 4, released in July, sold 2.61 million copies, making it the best-selling episode of the series. More than half of the game's sales, or 1.36 million units, were made in Japan, where the license was the most popular and where the largest advertising campaign was launched. The best-selling game of all time in the series is Pikmin 3 Deluxe (also available on Switch), which was released in October 2020 and sold 2.4 million copies in December 2022.
And let's not forget the timeless classic of the console, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It sold 3.22 million copies, making it the Switch's best-selling game with 57 million copies sold. Nintendo announced that a total of 16 Switch games, both original and third-party, sold more than one million units in the first half of the year.
Nintendo also said that the film Super Mario Bros, released in theaters last April, had a "positive impact on sales of Mario-related games". To date, the film has generated 1.3 billion euros in box office revenues.
What's the next step? Prospects for recovery
The company has revised its earnings forecast for the current fiscal year upwards, following the first-half results boosted by the release of the Zelda/Tears of the Kingdom game on Switch and the release of the Super Mario Bros. film. In particular, the operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending March 30, 2024 was increased by 11% to 500 billion yen (3.11 billion euros). In addition, Nintendo's turnover is expected to be EUR 9.8 billion, compared with an initial forecast of EUR 9 billion. The number of video game software units sold also increased from 180 million to 185 million units.
The numbers for the next six months will include Detective Pikachu's Return, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Super Mario RPG, WarioWare: Move It, Princess Peach: Showtime! and the upcoming Pokémon DLC, based on the good results of the games. In other words, the most profitable period is yet to come.
Finally, the rumors surrounding the Switch 2 launch have not died down, with an imprecise date of 2024 cited as the launch date, suggesting that the console is being tested by some developers. However, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has called recent media reports "false" and denied that there are any plans to launch the console with the studio. In addition, VGC's sources claim that the company has already sent development kits to key partners. The publication also spoke to Tokyo-based industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto, who suggested that a 2024 console release made sense for Nintendo, which "already expects hardware sales to drop 16.5% this year compared to last".
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