Nintendo raises profit forecast to $2.8bn as Zelda shifts close to 20m units

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Original story, November 7, 2023: Nintendo has increased its profit forecast for the current financial year following a strong first half, boosted by the launch of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros Movie.

For the six months ended September 30, 2023, the platform holder reported a 21.2% year-on-year increase in net sales to ¥796.2 billion ($5.3 billion) and a 27% increase in operating profit to ¥279.9 billion ($1.9 billion).

Bolstered by this solid performance, the company has raised its profit forecast from ¥340 billion ($2.3 billion) to ¥420 billion ($2.8 billion) for the year ending March 30, 2024.

Here's what you need to know:

The numbers

• Net sales: ¥796.2 billion ($5.3 billion, up 21.2% year-on-year)
• Operating profit: ¥279.9 billion ($1.9 billion, up 27%)
• Ordinary profit: ¥220.4 billion ($1.5 billion, up 17.8%)

• Hardware units sold: 6.84 million (up 2.4%)
• Software units sold: 97.1 million (up 1.8%)

The highlights

Nintendo reported that every title released during the six-month period has performed well, led by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom which has shifted 19.5 million copies. This already places it among the top ten best-selling Switch games since the console first launched almost seven years ago.

The company also noted that the debut of The Super Mario Bros Movie in April "positively impacted sales of Mario-related titles." Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, sold another 3.22 million units, bringing its lifetime sales past 57 million and cementing it as the biggest selling title on the Switch.

The Mario movie was also the biggest driver in Nintendo's mobile and IP-related business, which saw sales rise 133.3% year-on-year to ¥55 billion ($365.8 billion).

Pikmin 4, released in July, sold 2.61 million. Nintendo reported that 16 Switch games sold more than one million units during the first half of its fiscal year, including third-party titles.

All of this led to an 2.4% increase in hardware sales to 6.84 million units. The OLED model continues to be the biggest seller at 4.69 million units, followed by the standard model at 1.25 million and the Lite at 9 million.

There was also a 1.8% uptick in software sales to 97.1 million units. Looking at digital specifically, sales reached ¥217.5 billion ($1.4 billion, up 15.8%), with Nintendo noting this was aided by the depreciation of the yen.

Overall sales reached ¥796.2 billion ($5.3 billion), with sales outside of Japan accounting for 78.3% of this total – or ¥623.6 billion ($4.1 billion) to be precise.

Encouraged by this strong half – and confident about the H2 line-up of Super Mario Bros Wonder, Detective Pikachu Returns, Super Mario RPG, WarioWare: Move It and the next Pokémon DLC – Nintendo increased its profit forecast for the full year.

It currently forecasts net sales of ¥1.6 trillion ($10.6 billion), operating profit of ¥500 billion ($3.3 billion), and ordinary profit of ¥600 billion ($4 billion)

Update, November 8, 2023: In additional materials released around Nintendo's financial results, the platform holder announced Super Mario Bros Wonder sold 4.3 million units worldwide in the first two weeks after its October 20 launch.

This makes it the fastest-selling Super Mario-related title since the Wii and DS era (when Nintendo's tracking began), and Nintendo expects this to continue selling well in the run-up to Christmas and into 2024.