Animal Crossing powers five-fold profit jump for Nintendo
Nintendo posted a more than five-fold jump in quarterly profit today, as the success of its Switch console and standout game Animal Crossing supported the games maker during the pandemic.
People stuck at home around the world flocked to titles like Animal Crossing, which allows users to create life on an idyllic island, which sold 10.6m units in Nintendo’s first fiscal quarter alone.
Animal Crossing’s total sales have now reached 22.4m since it launched in March, making it second only to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. More than half of the new Switch devices sold in the quarter were first used to play the title.
Operating profit for the three months to the end of June was ¥144.7bn, more than double the average analyst estimate of ¥71bn.
Nintendo sold 5.7m Switch units in the first quarter, with 3m of those units being its classic hybrid home/portable Switch console.
Nintendo sold 2.6m units of the portable-only Switch Lite, which was supported by the sheer demand for Animal Crossing while production was low.
“The numbers are even more impressive when you consider that throughout the entire quarter, the Switch was hard to get in all major markets,” said Serkan Toto, founder of game industry consultancy Kantan Games.
Nintendo was plagued by production woes during the pandemic, as it could not produce enough consoles to meet the unprecedented demand. However it said these problems were easing as manufacturing got back on track.
It maintained its sales forecast of 19m Switch units in the current financial year.
Digital games sales more than tripled, with 56 per cent of sales made via digital download in the first quarter compared to 38 per cent a year earlier, helping Nintendo’s products reach users and boosting profit margins.
However the pandemic pushed back plans to open a Nintendo theme park this year, leaving the electronics firm heavily dependent on the Switch.
Nintendo said it plans to release an enhanced version of its popular Pikmin franchise for Switch later this year, which was last made for the Wii U console.