Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
Nintendo just released their six month earnings results in Japan and the numbers from the Big N continue to impress. The company announced today that they have sold 22.86 million Switch consoles as of the end of September 2018.
Some other interesting nuggets of information in Nintendo's October 30 earnings release involved software sales for some of their first party titles. Super Mario Odyssey has sold over 12.17 million units in its first full year. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 11.71 million copies, and Shacknews' Game of the Year 2017 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold over 10 million units since the launch of Nintendo Switch. These are impressive numbers to go alongside Switch's impressive console sales numbers. Nintendo was also proud to announce that Mario Tennis Aces has sold 2.16 million copies since launch. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, a game that originally released on Wii U, has sold 1.67 million units.
The company highlighted digital "sales of downloadable versions of packaged software and add-on content for Nintendo Switch showed especially good growth," of 71.7% year-over-year. Operating profit for the first six months of Nintendo's fiscal year was up 53.7% year-over-year despite only 4% revenue growth over the same time period. $3.44 billion in sales is nothing to scoff at, and Nintendo's shift towards digital distribution of software will continue to improve operating margins.
A weak spot in the company's results remains smartphone revenues, which only came in at $165 million (up 4.7% year over year) for the same period. Mobile has yet to become a meaningful segment of revenue, but the strength of Nintendo Switch and first party software sales are covering up for the weakness in the company's smartphone division.
Nintendo's quarterly sales growth slowed to 1% year-over-year, which is the worst pace for the company since the Switch launched. Sales and operating profit came in below analyst estimates according to Bloomberg. It is going to take a very strong holiday period for Nintendo to sell the 20 million Switch console units they projected at the beginning of the year. They have sold 5 million Switch consoles in the first six months of their fiscal year, with 3.2 million being sold in the recent quarter. “From the beginning we decided on a target that would be challenging to reach, not easy,” said Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa following the results. “The holiday season battle begins now.”
Nintendo maintained their full year guidance for the fiscal year ending in March of 2019. They highlighted the upcoming releases of Pokemon Let's Go Eevee and Let's Go Pikachu as well as Smash Ultimate later this year. The company also looks forward to the release of their next smartphone game, Mario Kart Tour, which will launch before the end of their fiscal year.