Nintendo Financial Results – Fiscal Year Ended March 2016, forecast for FY 2016-17

Today, Nintendo revealed its results for the Fiscal Year Ended March 2016 (April 1st, 2015 / March 31st, 2016), and good news: the company is still in the black, but pretty much everything is down except Operating income.

Let’s start with some raw data:

• Net sales: 504 459 million Yen (4.3 billion € / 3.3 billion £ / 4.8 billion $), -8.2% compared the same period in 2014-15 (549 780 million Yen, -3% compared to the same period in 2013-14);
• Operating income: 32 881 million Yen (262 million € / 203 million £ / 295 million $), +32.7% compared to the same period in 2014-15 (24 770 million Yen);
• Ordinary income: 28 790 million Yen (229 million € / 178 million £ / 259 million $), -59.2% compared to the same period in 2014-15 (70 530 million Yen);
• Profit attributable to owners of parent: 16 505 million Yen (131 million € / 102 million £ / 148 million $), -60.6% compared to the same period in 2014-15 (41 843 million Yen)
• Digital sales: 43.9 billion Yen (350 million € / 271 million $ / 395 million $) vs 31.3 billion Yen (249 million € / 193 million £ / 281 million $)

Also, for Q4 2015-16:

• Net Sales: 78 795 million yen
• Operating Income: – 9 604 million yen
• Net Income: – 24,503 million yen

These graphs show the proportion of Software / Hardware / Other (accesories, amiibo) in sales, but also the geographical breakdown of sales. Both Japan and North America are slightly up Year on Year, and only Europe (+ Others) is down.

Hardware / Software Sales

• Nintendo 3DS: 6.79 million for Fiscal Year 2015-16 (including 100 000 Pokémon + Nintendo 2DS bundles in Japan) / 58.85 million since launch
• Nintendo 3DS (Software): 48.52 million for Fiscal Year 2015-16 / 274.18 million since launch
• Wii U: 3.26 million for Fiscal Year 2015-16 / 12.8 million since launch
• Wii U (Software): 27.36 million for Fiscal Year 2015-16 / 84.4 million since launch
• Wii: 110 000 for Fiscal Year 2015-16 / 101.63 million since launch
• Wii (Software): 7.33 million for Fiscal Year 2015-16 / 914 280 million since launch

Here’s some details about Nintendo 3DS sales:

• Nintendo 3DS – 26,190,000
• Nintendo 3DS XL – 19,580,000
• New Nintendo 3DS XL – 6,300,000
• Nintendo 2DS – 4,930,000
• New Nintendo 3DS – 1,850,000

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Nintendo comments

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer and Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon both came out globally during the past fiscal year, and were quite successful with 3.04 million and 1.22 million sold respectively. There were also several hits from third-party developers (Yo-kai Watch Busters and Monster Hunter Generations), but no major titles like Pokémon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire or Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS to boost sales.

Nintendo 3DS Hardware and Software sold 6.79 million and 48.52 million units respectively.

On Wii U, Nintendo had several blockbusters:

• Splatoon: 4.27 million units sold worldwide
• Super Mario Maker: 3.52 million units sold worldwide
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD was off to a great start

Those titles contributed to energising the Wii U platforms, which was something quite noticeable in Japan with Splatoon.  Wii U Hardware and Software sold 3.26 million and 27.36 million units respectively.

As for amiibo, they just keep selling better and better, and contributing more and more to Nintendo’s total sales. Here’s the sales for both types of amiibo:

• figures: 24.7 million
• cards: 28.90 million

And mentioned above, sales of digital content on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS increased during the past Fiscal Year, with 43.9 billion Yen in sales. As for Miitomo, it had a good start, but Nintendo didn’t provide actual data (other than what you can find in this post!).

Finally, explains that “due to re-evaluation of assets in foreign currencies, exchange losses totaled 18.3 billion yen. As a result, ordinary income was 28.7 billion yen and profit attributable to owners of parent was 16.5 billion yen.”

Forecast

Nintendo 3DS

For the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo mentions the release of major titles such as Pokémon Sun and Moon, Kirby: Planet Robobot, but also strong titles from third-parties (Monster Hunter Generations, Yo-kai Watch 3, Monster Hunter Stories, most likely). Those games will “re-energize the platform and aim to expand [its] reach globally to a broad audience”, including women and kids.

amiibo and digital content

As for amiibo, Nintendo will naturally release new figures, but also offer new experiences making use of them. Finally, when it comes to DLC, Nintendo will “continue to offer appealing additional download content that enhance the characteristics of each game”. The goal is to make sure players keep playing the games the DLC is for, and maintain their popularity.

Nintendo will also release more games on mobile devices, including one for Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing.

Forecast

Here’s Nintendo’s forecast for FY 2016-17:

• Net sales: 500.0 billion Yen (504 billion Yen / 4.3 billion € / 3.3 billion £ / 4.8 billion $ for 2015-16)
• Operating income: 45.0 billion Yen (32.8 billion Yen / 262 million € / 203 million £ / 295 million $)
• Ordinary income: 45.0 billion Yen (28.8 billion Yen / 229 million € / 178 million £ / 259 million $)
• Profit attributable to owners of parent: 35.0 billion Yen (16.5 billion Yen / 131 million € / 102 million £ / 148 million $)

As for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS:

• Nintendo 3DS: 5 million units
• Nintendo 3DS Software: 55 million units
• Wii U: 800 000 units
• Wii U Software: 15 million units

Source: Nintendo