Nintendo saw a big boost in revenue and operating profit in the first fiscal quarter ended June 30 thanks to the success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the popularity of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Tears of the Kingdom sold more than 18 million units after its launch in May through June 30, a tremendous result for the highly rated game on the Nintendo Switch. Tears of the Kingdom debuted on May 12, and it became the fastest-selling title in the history of the series.
Revenues hit $3.2 billion (461.3 billion yen) in the first fiscal quarter, compared to 395.4 billion yen expected and up 50% from a year ago. Net profit was $1.26 billion (181.02 billion yen), compared to 109.9 billion yen expected and up 52% from a year ago.
Operating profit was 185.44 billion yen, up 82.4% year-on-year. Nintendo also saw a boost from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, produced by Universal Studios. The film has generated more than $1 billion at the box office since April.
Nintendo previously said its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2024, would be 1.45 trillion yen in revenue and 340 billion yen of profit. Nintendo also said it would sell 15 million Switch hardware units this fiscal year, compared to 1 million in the previous year.
In the June quarter itself, Nintendo sold 3.91 million Switch consoles, up 13.9%. That healthy bump might take pressure off Nintendo to launch a new console, as is rumored. The Switch is now six years old, and analysts are expecting a new console sometime in the next fiscal year or two.
For hardware, Nintendo said that it is trying to reach every home and person. Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and Nintendo can maximize hardware sales.
For software, Nintendo released Pikmin 4 in July, which will be followed by the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder in October and Super Mario RPG in November. In addition, add-on content for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet in the form of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero is on the way.
The first wave of this add-on content, The Teal Mask, is planned to be released in the fall of 2023, and the second part, The Indigo Disk, is planned for release in the winter of 2023. Other software publishers also plan to release a wide variety of titles, and Nintendo will work to invigorate the platform by supplementing existing titles with a continuous stream of new titles and add-on content.