Nintendo has released its financial report for the nine months ending December 31 2021, reporting its mobile operations generated ¥39.8 billion (approximately $347 million), representing a decrease of 5.2 per cent year-over-year.
Nintendo's mobile games performance has fluctuated considerably: during the nine-month period, Dr Mario World was taken offline at the end of October due to its poor performance.
However, during the same period, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp surpassed $250 million in lifetime consumer spending, and Mario Kart tour passed $200 million. The firm also launched Pikmin Bloom with Niantic.
These results come during an overall decline in operating profits and sales in the nine-month period. For the period, Nintendo’s operating profit reached ¥472.5 billion (approximately $4.1 billion), an overall decline of 9.3 per cent year-over-year, whereas sales fell roughly six per cent to ¥1.32 trillion (approximately $11.5 billion).
The overall decrease can be attributed to the company’s strong 2020 performance during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the successful release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which in turn boosted hardware sales.
Post-pandemic decline
In the financial report, Nintendo also revealed that the Nintendo Switch has now sold over 103.5 million units as of December 2021 – outselling its best-selling home console, the Nintendo Wii.
Throughout the nine months, Switch sales reached 11.79 million units whereas the Switch Lite sold 3.17 million units. The new OLED Switch, which was launched in October 2021, sold 3.99 million units. In total, overall Switch sales reached 18.95 million units, representing a decrease of 21.4 per cent year-over-year.
Nintendo’s projections for the fiscal year ending March 31 2022 forecast an overall sales decrease of 6.2 per cent, totalling ¥1.6 trillion (approximately $13.9 billion), as well as 12.6 per cent fall in operating profits to ¥560 billion ($4.8 billion).
This week, EA reported that its mobile operations for Q3 2022 had increased by 78 per cent, reaching $277 million, highlighting mobile as the firm’s fastest-growing platform in terms of revenue.
