Time seems to spare no one, and Nintendo’s latest financial report is a testament to that. As the Japanese workday wrapped up, Nintendo shared its earnings for the fiscal quarter spanning July to September, and it’s clear they’ve had to adjust their forecasts, marking a downward turn that hasn’t been seen in a while.
Let’s break down the key figures, all presented in yen. For those curious about the conversion, think roughly ¥152.224 for every US dollar.
Financial Performance
- Revenue: ¥276.661 billion (around $1.817 billion), which marks a 19.78% drop compared to the previous year.
- Operating Income: ¥67.003 billion (approximately $440 million), down by 29.21%.
- Ordinary Income: ¥33.631 billion (about $221 million), showing a massive 73.36% decline.
- Digital Sales: ¥79.2 billion (roughly $520 million), a 19.1% decrease, although digital content makes up 56.3% of their software sales this fiscal year.
- Mobile and IP Revenue: ¥16.5 billion (around $108 million), down by 28.88%.
Hardware Performance
The Switch enjoys lifetime sales of 146.04 million units, with 2.62 million shipped in this quarter. Breaking it down, 1.26 million were OLED models, 720,000 standard models, and 640,000 were Switch Lites. Interestingly, the special edition "Echoes of Wisdom" Lite was the highlight hardware for this quarter. To surpass the DS’s lifetime sales, Nintendo needs to sell another 7.98 million systems. If it wants to outdo the PlayStation 2, it’s looking at a gap of 12.66 million units.
Game Releases and Software News
This quarter saw three new game launches, a step up from last year’s single release at this time. "The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom" was the standout, with 2.58 million units shipped in just the first five days. Meanwhile, "Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition" and "Emio: The Smiling Man Famicom Detective Club" each struggled to reach the million mark in shipments. Updates from the previous quarter include "Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door" remaster, with 1.94 million units shipped, and "Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD" with 1.57 million.
Catalog Updates
When it comes to the top 10 games, the list remains unchanged. However, "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" continues to dominate, with lifetime shipments reaching 64.27 million units. Notably, it looks like "Scarlet and Violet" are on track to overtake "Sword and Shield" as the second-best-selling games in Pokemon’s storied history.
Market Challenges and Projections
This quarter’s foreign exchange losses hit ¥22.4 billion, a stark contrast to the ¥30.6 billion gains reported in the first quarter, which partly explains the steep decline in operating income. Alongside these results, Nintendo has also revised its future outlook, adjusting all forecasts downward. They’ve trimmed revenue expectations by 5.2% to ¥1.28 trillion, cut operating profit predictions by 10% down to ¥360 billion, and reduced their Switch hardware shipment targets from 13.5 million to 12.5 million units. Software projections have also been lowered from 165 million to 160 million units, acknowledging the slowdown in the Switch’s eighth year on the market.
In these changing times, it looks like Nintendo, just like everyone else, is navigating the inevitable tick of the clock with a blend of caution and adaptability.
