Nintendo Financial Results – Fiscal Year Ended March 31st, 2018 (April 1st – March 31st)
Today, the Nintendo financial results for the Fiscal Year Ended March 31st, 2018 were revealed, and as expected, they’re pretty good. The company is riding on the success of the Nintendo Switch, with sales significantly up compared to the same period last year.
Nintendo Financial Results – Raw Data
Let’s start with some raw data:
- Net Sales (FY): 1 055 682 million Yen (7.928 billion € / 9.668 billion $ / 6.929 billion £), an increase of 115.8% over the same period last year (489 095 million Yen, a drop of 3% over the same period during the previous Fiscal Year);
- Net Sales (Q4): 198 670 million Yen (1.492 billion € / 1.819 billion $ / 1.304 billion £);
- Operating profit (FY): 177 557 million Yen (1.330 billion € / 1.622 billion $ / 1.162 million £), an increase of 504.7% over the same period last year (29 362 million Yen, a drop of 10.7% over the same period during the previous Fiscal Year);
- Operating profit (Q4): 61 056 million Yen (458 million € / 559 million $ / 400 million £);
- Ordinary profit (FY): 199 356 million Yen (1.497 billion € / 1.825 billion $ / 1.308 billion £), an increase of 295.8% over the same period last year (50 364 million Yen, a 74.9% increase over the same period during the previous Fiscal Year);
- Ordinary profit (Q4): 4 793 million Yen (36 million € / 44 million $ / 31 million £);
- Profit attributable to owners of parent (FY): 139 590 million Yen (1.048 billion € / 1.278 billion $ / 916 million £), an increase of 36.1% over the same period last year (102 574 million Yen, an increase of 521.5% over the same period during the previous Fiscal Year);
- Profit attributable to owners of parent (Q4): 4 425 million Yen (33 million Yen € / 40 million $ / 29 million £);
- Digital sales (FY): 60.8 billion Yen / 456 million € / 556 million $ / 399 million £ (as opposed to 32.5 billion Yen / 244 million € / 297 million $ / 213 million £ during the same period last year);
- Digital sales (Q4): 17.7 billion Yen / 132 million € / 162 million $ / 116 million £.
The chart below shows the proportion of Software / Hardware / Other (accesories, amiibo) in sales, but also the geographical breakdown of sales. Sales are up in all regions, with most of sales sales made outside Japan (a positive sign, as Europe + North America is a much bigger market than Japan onle). To be precise, sales topped 771 billion Yen outside Japan: that’s roughly 77% of total sales.
The Nintendo Switch once again account for most of sales this quarter (~75% of total sales) with the smart devices games making a lot more money (though it’s nowhere near what the dedicated game platforms bring: even the aging Nintendo 3DS alone made Nintendo more money). This particular area account for only 3.9% of total sales, with about 10.219 billion Yen in Q4 alone.
Here’s data for Q4 specifically (all data is in million of Yen):
- Dedicated video game platforms (Hardware, Software, Accessories) – Japan: 39 462 / North America: 77 781 / Europe: 46 499 / Other: 24 350 / Total: 188 092
- Nintendo 3DS – Japan: 3 720 / North America: 7 777 / Europe: 5 397 / Other: 715 / Total: 17 609
- Nintendo Switch – Japan: 33 824 / North America: 64 503 / Europe: 36 762 / Other: 23 111 / Total: 158 560
- Other (inc. amiibo, Virtual Console) – Japan: 1 557 / North America: 5 501 / Europe: 4 340 / Other: 524 / Total: 11 924
- Smart devices, IP – Japan: 4 491 / North America: 4 390 / Europe: 784 / Other: 554 / Total: 10 819
- Playing cards, others – Japan: 158 / North America: 194/ Europe: 5 / Total: 358
- Total – Japan: 44 112 / North America: 82 365 / Europe: 47 289 / Other: 24 904 / Total: 198 670
Nintendo Financial Results – Hardware / Software Sales
- Nintendo 3DS: 6 400 000 units for Fiscal Year / 540 000 units for Q4 2017-18 / 72.53 million units since launch;
- Nintendo 3DS (Software): 35.640 million units for Fiscal Year (119 new games launched in all regions*) / 4.39 million units during Q4 2017-18 / 364.890 million units since launch (1 669 games launched*)
- Nintendo Switch: 15.05 million units for Fiscal Year / 2.92 million units for Q4 2017-18 / 17.79 million units since launch
- Nintendo Switch: 63.51 million units for Fiscal Year (270 games launched in all regions*) / 16.41 million units units for Fiscal Year/ 68.97 million units since launch (298 games launched)
* games released in more than one region are counted several times (example: 1 game in 3 regions: counted 3 times).
Here’s some details about Nintendo 3DS sales:
- New Nintendo 3DS XL – 12 020 000 (+ 1 700 000 units for Fiscal Year, 70 000 units for Q4 2017-18)
- Nintendo 2DS – 9 410 000 (+ 1 990 000 units for Fiscal Year, 220 000 units for Q4 2017-18)
- New Nintendo 2DS XL — 2.71 million units (260 000 units for Q4 2017-18)
Nintendo Financial Results – Forecast comparison
Here’s Nintendo’s forecast for the past Fiscal Year:
- Net sales (target): 1 020 000 million Yen
- Net sales (actual result): 1 055 682 million Yen [+35 682 million Yen above forecast]
- Operating profit (target): 160 000 million Yen
- Operating profit (actual result): 177 557 million Yen [+ 17 757 million Yen above forecast]
- Ordinary profit (target): 175 000 million Yen
- Ordinary profit (actual result): 199 356 million Yen [+24 356 million Yen above forecast)
- Net profit attributable to owners of parent (target): 120 000 million Yen
- Net profit attributable to owners of parent (actual result): 139 590 million Yen [+ 19 590 million Yen above forecast)
Nintendo Financial Results – Nintendo comments
For the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo talks about a “very positive trend” in Hardware sales, with no less than 15.05 million units sold during the Fiscal Year. Software wise, there’s been several hits:
- Super Mario Odyssey: 10.41 million units (“major hit with audiences worldwide”)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 9.22 million units sold
- Splatoon 2: 6.02 million units sold
Nintendo reveals that there were 12 million sellers during the past Fiscal Years, including titles from third-party publishers (3 in total, though Nintendo doesn’t specify which ones). Software sales have been strong, with 63.51 million units sold for the past Fiscal Year.
As for the Nintendo 3DS, it did fairly well despite the competition from the Nintendo Switch, with 6.4 million units sold worldwide. Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon did well with 7.51 million units sold worldwide. Total Software sales topped 35.64 million units for the full Fiscal Year.
Digital sales grew up at a rapid pace, with 60.8 billion Yen generated during the past Fiscal Year (+80% compared to the same period during Fiscal Year 2016-17). The Nintendo Switch was a major contributor to those strong sales.
Next: the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (known as Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition in North America, and Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom in Japan) was a hit in all regions, with 5.28 million units sold.
Quite surprisingly, amiibo sales did increase: they topped 10.30 million units sold for figures, and 5.80 million units for cards.
Unfortunately, Nintendo doesn’t have much to say about mobile games, and simply mentions that Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp (released this past Fiscal Year), Super Mario Run, and Fire Emblem Heroes are all being enjoyed by many players worldwide. This business generated 39.3 billion Yen in revenue (+62% Year on Year).
Nintendo Financial Results – Forecast
Nintendo mentions that consumers have been “very receptive” to the new concept introduced by the Nintendo Switch (home console you can play anytime, anywhere, with anyone), which helped sustain its “favourable momentum” during the past Fiscal Year. Naturally, Nintendo is planning to take full advantage of this momentum to reach an even broader range of consumers, and selling even more consoles.
The company mentions the following games:
- Nintendo Labo (“offering a new way to play”)
- Mario Tennis Aces
- Super Smash Bros.
- “several hits from other Software publishers”
There’s also Nintendo Switch Online, the paid online service, that will be launched in September, and will “expand the online functionality” of the console. The company will also keep on introducing new games, while increasing sales of popular ones already available.
On Nintendo 3DS, the goal is to keep on targeting an “ever wide range of consumers”. There’s a pretty big and varied Software library for them to take advantage of, but also a total install base of over 72 million consoles worldwide. The main goal: further expand the sales of evergreen titles.
On the mobile front, Nintendo is expecting growth thanks to the release of new games, including Mario Kart Tour. Of course, games already available will keep on getting new content (except Miitomo, which is coming to an end on May 9th).
Nintendo Financial Results – New Forecast
Here’s the revised forescast for FY 2017-18:
- Net sales: 1 200 billion Yen (+ 145 billion Yen compared to FY 2017-18)
- Operating profit: 225 billion Yen (+ 48 billion Yen compared to FY 2017-18)
- Ordinary profit: 230 billion Yen (+ 31 billion Yen compared to FY 2017-18)
- Net profit attributable to owners of parent: 165 billion Yen (+26 billion Yen compared to FY 2017-18)
As for the Nintendo 3DS, and the Nintendo Switch specifically:
- Nintendo 3DS: 4 million units (- 2.4 million units compared to FY 2017-18)
- Nintendo 3DS Software: 16 million units (-19.64 million units compared to FY 2017-18)
- Nintendo Switch: 20 million units (+5.05 million units compared to FY 2017-18)
- Nintendo Switch Software: 100 million units (+37.49 million units compared to FY 2017-18)
