Nintendo digital sales boom 65.3% year-on-year

Nintendo has released its financial results for the three months ended June 30th, 2019 and reported a 2.4 per cent increase in sales compared to the same period last year, reaching ¥172bn (around £1.3bn). 76.5 per cent of the total sales were made overseas, the report pointed out. However, operating profit was down 10.2 per cent year-on-year to ¥27.4bn (£207m).

The financial report highlighted Super Mario Maker 2’s excellent performance, with 2.42m units sold from launch on June 28th until the end of the period under scrutiny… So that’s 2.42m units in only two days! Super Mario Maker 2 has regularly been topping the UK charts as well since launch.

Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continued to sell steadily: 1.2m units have been shifted during this period, pushing the title to a total of 17.89m units sold since launch in April 2017. The report also indicated that “titles released by other software publishers continued to grow at a steady pace” as well.

Overall, 22.62m Switch games were shifted during the period (a 25.9 per cent increase year-on-year) while the console itself sold 2.13m units (a 13.2 per cent rise compared to the same period last year). As of June 30th 2019, the Switch had thus sold 36.87m units and 210.13m games since launch.

Digital sales on Nintendo Switch boomed year-on-year, with a 65.3 per cent rise totalling ¥30.6bn (£231m) in sales for “downloadable versions of packaged software and download-only software.”

A direct consequence of the Switch doing so well is the Nintendo 3DS massively shrinking: hardware and software sales were down 44.9 per cent and 49.7 per cent respectively year-on-year – a drop that should further accelerate when the Switch Lite launches in September. However, it doesn’t look like Nintendo will stop producing the 3DS just yet, as it still appeals to the younger generation, as the report read: “We will continue to leverage the [Nintendo 3DS’] rich software library to appeal to consumers purchasing game hardware for the first time, while continuing to drive sales of evergreen titles that leverage its hardware install base.”

In terms of mobile revenue, Nintendo pointed out that “IP related income” coming from its mobile business reached ¥10bn (£75m), a ten per cent increase year-on-year.

Nintendo’s financial report highlighted the strong portfolio of Nintendo Switch games to release in the next year: Astral Chain in August, Link’s Awakening in September, Luigi’s Mansion 3 in October, Pokémon Sword and Shield in November and Animal Crossing: New Horizons in March 2020 – plus Fire Emblem: Three Houses released just last week, already to excellent sales. And that’s not even mentioning the Nintendo Switch Lite. We’ll keep a close eye on upcoming Nintendo’s financial reports as it promises to be a good year for the platform holder.