Nintendo has released its earnings for the first three months of the current fiscal year alongside updated sales figures for the Switch. The company says it’s sold 19.67 million Switch consoles as of June 30th, meaning the actual figure is likely to have reached 20 million already.
Nintendo is still predicting that it will sell 20 million units in the year starting April 2018 and ending March 2019. So far the company has only sold 1.88 million after three months, which is actually slightly down year on year, but the holiday season will be considerably busier for the company with major titles like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the two Pokémon: Let’s Go games set for release.
Overall, Nintendo made an operating profit of 30.5 billion yen ($275 million) off revenue of 168 billion yen ($1.51 billion) this quarter, year-on-year improvements of 88.4 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has joined Super Mario Odyssey as the Switch’s second title to break 10 million units sold, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is likely to do the same this quarter.
Comments
I’m surprised BotW wasn’t the first title to break 10 million.
By Not Brendon on 07.31.18 3:48am
Also being available for the Wii U probably had something to do with it.
By TechLover99 on 07.31.18 4:05am
Lost them about 3 sales probably
By Tuff on 07.31.18 4:37am
1.5 million copies sold on Wii U, as of the end of April.
8.4 million on Switch at the same time.
By purplesaltyqueso on 07.31.18 10:07am
thats 504 million dollars alone for that one game. nintendo is seriously banking.
By 1-Ton on 07.31.18 11:37am
Mario Kart 8 is also available for the Wii U and broke 10 million before BotW.
By OpssYourBad on 07.31.18 4:48pm
Zeldas never been as big a seller as Mario/Mario Kart and other franchises. I’m seeing varying figures but Twilight Princess which had a sort of similar release (2 consoles, was launched on the Wii that had Switch levels of success) managed a lower 7 – 8 million over its lifetime.
A 50% attach rate for a Zelda title 15 months after release seems very impressive to me.
By Smigit on 07.31.18 11:42pm
Octopath Traveller is the reason I got one. It’s a fab game really suited to the console.
By Crazyhamsterfeet on 07.31.18 6:40am
Wish it had more games. But a successful Nintendo hopefully means exactly that in the future.
By inteliboy on 07.31.18 8:30am
I mean, it has over 1,000 games right now. I think you mean games you’re willing to try. There are tons of amazing games to keep anyone with a wider palate busy. I haven’t gotten through half of the games I’ve purchased. I could argue they have too many great games.
By Black Dude on 07.31.18 8:59am
I think some people just haven’t looked at how many games really are on the Switch now. Between over a dozen AAA first and third party games plus hundreds of decent indie games of which a good handful are amazing, there are already hundreds of hours of rich gameplay to be had on the Switch. I’m already at the point where I’ve had to tell myself not to get another game until I beat a few games sitting unplayed.
Sorry if I come off sounding like I’m attacking you, but a friend of mine says the same thing because he is comparing the current library on the PS4 to a console that has only been out for a year and a half.
By Biology4Me on 07.31.18 9:03am
Yea, and most of the indie games are better on the Switch than on any other platform.
It doesn’t have everything, but IMO it’s by far the best console of this generation.
By Tuff on 07.31.18 11:24am
I agree. Being able to play 15 minutes of Stardew while waiting for someone, or let’s be honest, during my morning business is really awesome and makes me wonder how people play it at all stuck in front of a console or tower computer.
However, the best console of this generation is a harder decision for me. While I love the Switch as a piece of hardware, I don’t think Nintendo will ever be able to top masterpieces like God of War, Bloodborne, Horizon Zero Dawn, and The Last of Us 1 & 2. If someone could only get one console, I might recommend a PS4.
By Biology4Me on 07.31.18 1:19pm
Ah I remember the first article about the switch and the commenters in this section who said it would fail. Great to see Nintendo doing so well again.
By VoxMediaUser1831837 on 07.31.18 9:12am
I was one of those commenters. I bought one about three months after it launched. Turns out I don’t know what I’m talking about.
By fleshsw0rd on 07.31.18 12:13pm
I’m glad you gave it a shot! One of my favorite tech purchases in the past two years.
By VoxMediaUser1831837 on 07.31.18 1:03pm
Oh man I’ve got nothing but good things to say about it. Such a cool console. Zelda is just great. I’ve been away from gaming cause I was travelling for like 5 years, but now I’m catching up on lots of games and a bunch of cool indies. Plus playing switch in a plane makes flights go by so quick. 100% happy customer.
By fleshsw0rd on 07.31.18 3:15pm
If BOTW was mediocre it would have certainly flopped.
By gltovar on 07.31.18 6:27pm
it makes me smile every time i see these numbers for he switch…not because its doing so well..but because i know everyone that said it would fail before it was even out and now strangely very quiet…lol.
The switch isnt powerful but IT IS MIGHTY!
By number1024 on 07.31.18 9:23am
I’m surprised anyone would say it would fail. It’s a portable console, which is Nintendo’s bread and butter. Those rarely do poorly.
By NothingUnknown on 07.31.18 9:32am
i’d agree, but remember that Nintendo was/is pitching it as a home console, not a portable, and those have been in a downward slope for every successor unit with the Wii being an outlier.
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/hard_soft/
hell even their portables have a downward trend, (again with the DS possibly being an outlier) just at a higher starting point.
A healthy Nintendo is good for the industry, but im not surprised at all that people were worried.
By Dave Cushman on 07.31.18 10:13am
This person was convinced it was a failure from launch…
https://brobible.com/entertainment/article/nintendo-switch-launch-failure/
And also… "15 Reasons Why Nintendo Switch will Fail"
https://www.sachermes.com/why-nintendo-switch-will-fail/
By aardWolf on 07.31.18 10:31am
Even Nintendo was surprised by the Switch’s success.
By ench on 07.31.18 11:09am
I mean, both Capcom and Square Enix expected it to be a nonperformer (much to their chagrin), hence the sad sack Switch development pipeline for both.
By Eric Berggren on 07.31.18 1:38pm
I’m still firmly in the "Nintendo should be a third party" camp… I’ll admit they’re doing well right now. My son loves his, so it was a good purchase. But I’ll still contend they’d break every conceivable sales record with every release if they were 3rd party. They’d be the new bar.
By BulletTooth_Tony on 08.01.18 9:31am