Nintendo, the renowned Japanese gaming giant, has recently unveiled its financial results for the nine months ending December 31, 2023, showcasing a noteworthy sales and net profit increase.
This surge in performance can be attributed to the anticipation surrounding the expected successor to the popular Nintendo Switch, which fueled last Christmas sales. Here’s a concise overview of the key highlights from Nintendo’s latest financial report:
Sales and profit surge
During the nine months ending in December 2023, Nintendo reported a substantial sales and net profit increase. While hardware and software sales experienced a dip, the company revised its full-year forecast upwards, indicating overall confidence in its performance.
Sales on Nintendo’s platforms saw a healthy boost, with a 4.7% increase to ¥1.3 trillion ($8.7 billion). This figure encompasses hardware, software, and accessories sales. Notably, mobile and IP-related sales surged by a staggering 93.4% to ¥75.2 million ($505 billion), driven primarily by the revenue generated from the Super Mario Bros Movie release in April 2023.
Hardware sales
The Nintendo Switch continued to be a strong contender in the market, selling 340 million units during the nine months, albeit experiencing a 34.9% decrease compared to the previous year. However, the OLED model fared better, selling 8.17 million units, marking a 6.2% increase from the previous year.
Surprisingly, the Nintendo Switch Lite outperformed the rest, with 2.18 million units sold, reflecting a 9.1% increase from the prior year. Nintendo attributes these stable sales to the platform’s seventh year.
Software success
Despite declining software unit sales, Nintendo had several new titles that performed exceptionally well in 2023. A total of 24 titles managed to sell over a million copies, including games from other publishers. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold nearly 20.3 million units following its May 2023 launch, while Pikmin 4 sold 3.3 million units after its release in July.
Super Mario Bros Wonder achieved remarkable success, selling almost 12 million units in October and reaching a global sell-through of 10.7 million, making it the fastest-selling Super Mario title.
Nintendo credits the positive impact of the Super Mario Bros Movie for driving sales of Mario-related titles, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe selling an additional 6.79 million copies, bringing cumulative sales to an impressive 60.6 million units.
Digital sales and user base growth
Digital sales surged 11.7% year-on-year to ¥346 billion ($2.3 billion). This boost was fueled by increased sales for Nintendo Switch Online and downloadable content (DLC) for games like Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
Moreover, Nintendo experienced its “highest ever” number of annual players during the nine months ending December 31, 2023, with an estimated 122 million users compared to 114 million during the same period last year.
Global sales distribution
In terms of regional distribution, Nintendo’s report revealed that 70% of its sales were generated overseas. The Americas accounted for 43.9% of sales, Europe contributed 25%, and Japan made up 21.3%.
Nintendo remains optimistic about its future performance and has increased its expectations for the full year in both hardware and software sales numbers. The company initially projected 15 million hardware units to be sold for the year, but it has now raised this forecast to 15.5 million. Nintendo originally anticipated shifting 185 million units in the software segment, but this has been revised upwards to 190 million.
