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48.2% of Nintendo's FY 2023 sales were digital

Nintendo's earnings report for the fiscal year showed a growth in digital sales.

Donovan Erskine

May 9, 2023 6:55 AM

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This week, Nintendo shared its earnings report for the fiscal year 2023. In the report, we get a better look at Nintendo’s sales trends over the past several quarter, which revealed a pretty interesting patter. More than 48 percent of Nintendo’s game sales in FY 2023 were digital, a five percent increase from the previous year.

The digital sales page of Nintendo’s FY 2023 explanatory material contains details about the company’s sales over the past year. The 48.2 percent of sales being digital accounts for nearly all Switch games sold across the board. In 2022, 42.6 percent of the company’s sales were digital. Nintendo made 405.2 billion Yen ($2.9 billion USD) in digital sales over the course of the year, compared to 359.6 billion Yen ($2.7 billion USD) in 2022.

Nintendo saw its biggest digital sales quarter in Q3 2023, where it made 122.1 billion yen ($88.8 million USD). This quarter marked the release of Mario Kart 8 DLC and new games being added to Nintendo Switch Online. Nintendo also had a decent Q4 thanks to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, as well as Splatoon 3.

The gaming industry has been shifting towards digital sales for years now, and the pandemic has only accelerated that change. Similar to the other home consoles, Nintendo Switch games are sold digitally on the console’s marketplace, the eShop.

With The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on the horizon, we’re curious to see if it will be the catalyst for another huge digital sales quarter for Nintendo. Nintendo’s latest earnings report included plenty of interesting nuggets about the video game company, including the fact that the Nintendo Switch - OLED Model outsold all other Switch models in FY 2023. Stay with us here at Shacknews for everything Nintendo.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_