Nintendo Releases Third Fiscal Quarter Financial Results

3DS

by Donald Theriault - January 30, 2017, 11:46 pm EST
Total comments: 11 Source: Nintendo Investor Relations

Did Pokémon cause big bucks, or is the final Switch push a whammy?

The holiday quarter with the release of Pokémon Sun and Moon was a lucrative one for Nintendo, and the company produced an operating profit as a result.

As well, Nintendo did announce an increase in their profit expectation for the full fiscal year, though the Animal Crossing mobile project was delayed out of fiscal 2017.

Financial Indicators

Operating Income: 26.315bn yen (approximately equivalent to US$231.5m at press time market rate of US$1 = 113.645 yen)
Net Income: 49.110 bn yen ($432m)
Related entity revenue (Pokémon Go): 16,781bn yen (US$147.7m) YTD, 4.781bn this quarter.

Hardware and Amiibo Sales:

3DS hardware 3.73m for the quarter, 65.3m lifetime
Wii U 200,000 for the quarter, 13.56m lifetime total
Amiibo sales: 6.5m figures/6.6m cards since April

Software Sales:

Units of 3DS software 27.55m for the quarter, 320m lifetime
Units of Wii U software: 4.18m for the quarter, 96.5m lifetime
Total software sales revenue 159,618b yn (US$1.403 billion), digital revenue 23.1bn yen year to date and 8.4bn yen for the quarter
Smart device and royalty revenue (incl. Super Mario Run) 10.683bn yen (US$93m)

Game sales milestones:

Pokémon Sun and Moon sold 14.69m units between launch and December 31, already exceeding sales of Omega Ruby/Alpha Saphire (13.68m) and on track to pass X and Y (16.06m)
Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS sold 2.01m units in just under a month
Mario Kart 7 LTD has reached 14.82m units sold
Kirby Planet Robobot sold 1.32m worldwide

Upcoming release schedule highlights:

Project Giant Robot has been removed from the schedule along with all other Wii U games, but Dr. Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training (Europe) has not been removed from the company's release calendar.

Images

Talkback

WanderleiJanuary 31, 2017

needs more numberwang tbh

NWR_insanolordJ.P. Corbran, Community ManagerJanuary 31, 2017

Only selling 200,000 Wii Us worldwide in an entire quarter is impressively terrible.

Luigi DudeJanuary 31, 2017

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

Only selling 200,000 Wii Us worldwide in an entire quarter is impressively terrible.

That's pretty good considering Nintendo recalled them from the West during the holiday. Seriously, I'm surprised there was even that many still around considering I haven't seen one at any stores in months.

Evan_BJanuary 31, 2017

The Switch third party offerings sure do look bleak.

Order.RSSJanuary 31, 2017

Out of curiosity, when you divide the lifetime software sales by lifetime hardware you should get a rough mean amount of games the average consumers buys, no?

96.5/13.56= 7.11 games per Wii U
320/65.3= 4.9 games per 3DS

Obviously super basic way of going about this, there's bound to be a ton of outliers skewing these results. But the 3DS average seems a bit low to me perhaps? Maybe a bunch of people just ONLY buy Pokémon on it, so they have 2 or 3 games max?

nickmitchJanuary 31, 2017

Pokemon is definitely a factor, but keep in mind how many people buy 2 (or more systems). There's been 4 versions of the hardware, so people (like myself) could've upgraded at some point.

ShayminDonald Theriault, News EditorJanuary 31, 2017

Quote from: NWR_insanolord

Only selling 200,000 Wii Us worldwide in an entire quarter is impressively terrible.

They predicted 800k for the fiscal year and probably just shipped the last 40,000 or so to Japan to finish it off. But yeah, Sun and Moon outsold the frickin' Wii U inside of 6 weeks.

Mop it upJanuary 31, 2017

Quote from: Luigi

That's pretty good considering Nintendo recalled them from the West during the holiday.

I thought this was just a rumor, but I haven't looked into it. Is there some proof that this happened?

Quote from: Steefosaurus

96.5/13.56= 7.11 games per Wii U
320/65.3= 4.9 games per 3DS

Obviously super basic way of going about this, there's bound to be a ton of outliers skewing these results. But the 3DS average seems a bit low to me perhaps? Maybe a bunch of people just ONLY buy Pokémon on it, so they have 2 or 3 games max?

Historically, handhelds generally have lower attach rates than consoles. One reason is because handhelds tend to have lots of revisions, which means that the same person could be buying more than one system which will lower the attach rate. A family may also buy a 3DS system for each member, but buy only one copy of games to share.

That said, the 3DS attach rate does still seem pretty low compared to the DS and other handhelds.

LemonadeJanuary 31, 2017

Over 65m for the 3DS now, thats very impressive. I hope the Switch is at least this popular too.

King of TwitchFebruary 02, 2017

Quote from: Lolmonade

Over 65m for the 3DS now, thats very impressive. I hope the Switch is at least this popular too.

You can count on it. ;) Nintendo has done an impressive job learning from its mistakes and getting in touch with their customers' needs. Keeping the slow burn on announcements was the right call: social media has been buzzing for weeks and blown the lid off of the hype train engine. It's the best rollout they've ever had since Spaceworld. I can't wait for March 3!

Evan_BFebruary 02, 2017

What a breath of fresh air!

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