Amidst the excitement that has surrounded the Nintendo Switch reveal, Nintendo has shared their latest earnings release.
That saw the company report net sales at 136 billion yen for the six months ended September 2016, lower than the 204 billion yen achieved the previous year. Operating income tumbled into negative figures at a 5.9 billion yen loss, a turn in fortune from the more positive 8.9 billion yen secured in the prior year.
Ordinary income fell to a 30.8 billion yen loss, but, largely thanks in part to Nintendo of America selling their majority stake in the Seattle Mariners, net profit recovered to sit at 38.2 billion yen.
What impresses most is how much the interest around Pokémon GO drove Nintendo 3DS hardware and software sales. 2.71 million systems were sold in the quarter, a 19 percent increase year-on-year. Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire sales soared by 124 percent compared to the same quarter last year, while Pokémon X and Pokémon Y climbed even higher at 312 percent.
Nintendo also indicated that there were “strong trends” for Kirby Planet Robobot‘s worldwide release, and sales growth around Nintendo 2DS. With 800,000 Wii U consoles to ship this fiscal year, Nintendo shared that 560,000 have been sold which is on target even if it is a 53 percent decrease year-on-year.
3.8 million amiibo figures and 1.7 million amiibo cards were sold worldwide, despite admitting that “there were few new software titles offering amiibo functionality.” Nintendo indicated that there “were no hit titles” compared to Splatoon and Super Mario Maker last year, as well as “relatively fewer offerings of downloadable content” meaning that download sales similarly slowed.
Nintendo now look to Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition, and Super Mario Run, to have a more positive impact on their performance in the months ahead.
Even with Nintendo Switch beyond that, the company cut its profit forecast “in consideration of a stronger-than-expected yen in foreign currency exchanges” and “the revision of sales prospects after the second quarter” among other factors.
