Today Nintendo revealed its financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2019.
As you can see in the table below, all the relevant figures are firmly in the black and show relevant improvement compared to the previous fiscal year ended on March 31, 2018.
We also get an explanation for the results, providing sales data of several of the games released by Nintendo. As of March 31, 2019, we learn that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate passed 13.81 million units, Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon Let’s Go, Eevee! shipped 10.63 million units combined, and Super Mario Party shipped 6.4 million units.
O top of that, the NES Classic Edition and the Super NES Classic Edition sold 5.95 million units combined during the quarter.
The results for this fiscal year showed strong software sales for Nintendo Switch, which contributed to the expansion of hardware ales. In particular, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate recorded sales of 13.81 million units, while Pokémon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon Let’s Go, Eevee! sold 10.63 million units and Super Mario Party sold 6.4 million units, making them all major worldwide hits. In addition, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 7.47 million units. Combined with steadily-growing sales of titles released during previous fiscal years and titles released by other software publishers, the total number of million-seller titles during this fiscal year recorded 23.
As a result, hardware sales for this fiscal year totaled 16.95 million units (12.7% increase on a year-on-year basis), while 118.55 million software units were sold (86.7% increase on a year-on-year basis).
Hardware sales of Nintendo 3DS, eight years from launch, totaled 2.55 million units (60.2% decrease on a year-on-year basis), while 13.22 million software units were sold (62.9% decrease on a year-on-year basis).Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition and Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition recorded total sales of 5.95 million units.
Turning to our digital business for dedicated video game platforms, sales of download versions of packaged software and downloadonly software for Nintendo Switch showed especially good growth, bringing digital sales to 118.8 billion yen (95.4% increase on a year-on-year basis).
In our mobile business, many consumers around the world enjoy Dragalia Lost, which was released during this fiscal year, in addition to our previously-released titles. Our mobile, IP related income was 46.0 billion yen (17.0% increase on a year-on-year basis).
We also get a look at the forecast for the current fiscal year (all the way to March 31, 2020). We get a confirmation that the new Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening are still slated for a release this year.
“Nintendo Switch has continued to spread quickly around the world since launch, providing a foundation for further business growth. In order to maintain this momentum, we will release Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit in April, Super Mario Maker 2 in June, and Fire Emblem: Three Houses in July, all worldwide.
In addition, Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield, Animal Crossing (temp.) and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening are slated for release in 2019. Furthermore, major titles from other software publishers are scheduled to be released. We aim to contribute to momentum of the platform by continuously introducing attractive new titles in
addition to popular titles already released.For Nintendo 3DS, we will continue to leverage the platform’s 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 the mobile business, we have plans to release Dr. Mario World and Mario Kart Tour. In addition, we will strive to expand the business by ensuring that more consumers can continue to enjoy the applications we’ve released already.
Through these initiatives, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, we expect to see results of 1,250.0 billion yen in net sales, with 260.0 billion yen in operating profit, 260.0 billion yen in ordinary profit, and profit attributable to owners of parent of 180.0 billion yen.”
Below you can find a table with the specific numbers of Nintendo Switch games that have shipped over a million units, and another with the upcoming releases. Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime 4 still don’t have a release window.
If you want to read more, you can check out the update in hardware and software sales for the Switch and 3DS.
