Nintendo Predicts to Ship 37.79 Million Switch Units By March 2019; Announces Strong Results

Giuseppe Nelva April 26, 2018 3:16 AM EST

Nintendo announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31st, 2018, and provided a forecast until March 2019.

Nintendo announced today its financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31st, 2018. As you can see in the table below, all the relevant figures are positive and show a significant increase year-on-year.

The accompanying press release also included a breakdown of results for hardware and software. Among the figures, we learn that Super Mario Odyssey shipped 10.41 million units, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe shipped 9.22 million units, Splatoon 2 shipped 6.02 million units. On the 3DS front, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon shipped 7.51 million units.

We also see that the SNES Classic Edition shipped 5.28 million units.

“The results for this fiscal year show a very positive trend in global hardware sales for Nintendo Switch, which sold a total of 15.05 million units during this fiscal year. On the software end, Super Mario Odyssey has been a major hit with audiences worldwide, and sold 10.41 million units. This is in addition to 9.22 million units sold for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and 6.02 million units sold for Splatoon

2, bringing the total number of million-seller titles during this fiscal year to 12, including the titles of other software publishers. The combined software sales results for this fiscal year reached 63.51 million units. Nintendo 3DS hardware sales remained solid in each region even after the launch of Nintendo Switch, with sales during this fiscal year reaching 6.40 million units. For the Nintendo 3DS software, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon sold 7.51 million units, while overall sales for this fiscal year totaled 35.64 million units. Turning to our digital business for dedicated video game platforms, digital sales were very good, especially on Nintendo Switch, which brought digital sales (see note) to a combined total of 60.8 billion yen (87% increase on a year-on-year basis). Meanwhile, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition proved to be a hit in every region, with sales totaling 5.28 million units, and we grew amiibo sales compared to the previous fiscal year, with approximately 10.30 million figures sold, while card sales hit approximately 5.80 million units. In our smart-device business, we released Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp during this fiscal year to join Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes, which have both been available since before the start of the fiscal year. These applications are being enjoyed by many consumers globally. Our smart devices and IP related income was 39.3 billion yen (62% increase on a year-on-year basis). In total, net sales reached 1,055.6 billion yen (of which overseas sales were 794.4 billion yen or 75.3% of the total sales). Operating profit came to 177.5 billion yen. Ordinary profit was 199.3 billion yen, and profit attributable to owners of parent totaled 139.5 billion yen.”

We also get the outlook for the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31st, 2019. As you can see, the manufacturer predicts shipping 20 million Nintendo Switch units, which would bring the grand total to 37.79 million units. They also expect to sell 4 million 3DS units, bringing the total to 76.53 million.

“Consumers have been very receptive to the new concept introduced by Nintendo Switch as a home gaming system that they can take with them to play anytime, anywhere, with anyone, which helped it maintain its favorable momentum during this fiscal year. Looking ahead, we plan to leverage this momentum to reach an even broader range of consumers and expand the installed base of the hardware. Specifically, we released Nintendo Labo in April as an offering of a new way to play, and then we are slated to release Mario Tennis Aces in June, as well as the latest entry from the popular series, Super Smash Bros. (temp.) within the year. We expect to release several hit titles from other software publishers as well. Then in September, we will begin offering the Nintendo Switch Online paid service to expand the online functionality of Nintendo Switch. Our goal is to take full advantage of the platform by continuously introducing compelling new software while further increasing sales of popular titles that are already in the market. With Nintendo 3DS, we will continue to target an ever wider range of consumers. We will work to leverage the platform’s rich software library and worldwide total hardware install base of over 72 million units and further expand sales of evergreen titles. Our smart-device business is poised to grow with the release of new gaming applications including Mario Kart Tour, alongside the applications consumers continue to enjoy that were released prior to this fiscal year. Through these initiatives, for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, we expect to see results of 1,200.0 billion yen in net sales, with 225.0 billion yen in operating profit, 230.0 billion yen in ordinary profit, and profit attributable to owners of parent of 165.0 billion yen.”

Incidentally, we also learn that Tatsumi Kimishima is retiring from his role as President and Representative Director, and Shuntaro Furukawa (who is currently in charge of the Global Marketing Department) will take over in his stead.

If you want to learn more, you can also check out the updated hardware and software shipments for both Nintendo Switch and 3DS, and the results for the previous fiscal quarter, for the sake of comparison.

If you still don’t have a Nintendo Switch and want one, you can purchase your unit on Amazon.

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