For the six months from April to September 2024, Nintendo saw its revenue, operating profit and net profit fall by 34%, 56% and 60% respectively. Naturally for such an old platform, console sales fell by 31% and game sales fell by 28% compared to the same half-year a year earlier. Besides the fact that the Switch is at the end of its cycle, the comparison with last year is quite harsh, because Nintendo was benefiting from the boxes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the Super Mario film.
Concretely, Nintendo sold 2.62 million Switches and 39.64 million games between July and September, which makes 4.72 million consoles and 70.2 million games since the start of the fiscal year. The biggest success of the semester goes to The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom (2.58 million copies distributed as of September 30). It is followed by Paper Mario: The Millennium Door (1.94 million) and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (1.57 million). Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains the locomotive with now more than 64 million copies distributed worldwide. On the other hand, Nintendo has not updated the sales of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which means that these did not reach one million during the semester. A surprising slowdown for a 2D Mario which had nevertheless laid the foundations for a record start last fall.
Usually quite conservative, Nintendo acknowledges having slightly overestimated the end of life of its console and has revised its objectives downward for the current fiscal year. Nothing very shameful in reality, simply Nintendo now aims to distribute 12.5 million Switches between April 2024 and March 2025 and no longer 13.5 million (compared to 15.7 million the previous year). Same thing for game sales, Nintendo will be content to deliver 160 million instead of 165 million. From its base of 146 million consoles distributed worldwide for 1.3 billion games sold, the Switch nonetheless remains one of the most remarkable successes in the history of consoles, particularly in Japan where it already eclipsed all other machines and continues to flow at a spectacular rate.
« Although Nintendo Switch console and software sales in the first half of the fiscal year were lower than our initial expectations, many people continue to play with the Nintendo Switch even eight years after its launch », underlines Nintendo. While waiting for its future replacement, which Nintendo still plans to unveil next March at the latest, the Switch can still count on a solid catalog of releases including Super Mario Party Jamboree, Mario & Luigi: The Brotherhood Epic, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition, Pokémon Legends: ZA and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. And let's not forget the Alarmo alarm clock which is already shaking the tech giants.
(In parentheses, sales for the July-September quarter)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe ➔ 64,27 millions (+ 1,37 million)
- Animal Crossing : New Horizons ➔ 46,45 millions (+ 600 000)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ➔ 35,14 millions (+ 480 000)
- The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild ➔ 32,29 millions (+ 240 000)
- Super Mario Odyssey ➔ 28,50 millions (+ 290 000)
- Pokémon Sword and Shield ➔ 26,44 millions (+ 90 000)
- Pokémon Scarlet and Purple ➔ 25,69 millions (+ 400 000)
- The Legend of Zelda : Tears of the Kingdom ➔ 21,04 millions (+ 240 000)
- Super Mario Party ➔ 20,98 millions (+ 140 000)
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe ➔ 17,77 millions (+ 160 000)
Recent releases
- The Legend of Zelda : Echoes of Wisdom ➔ 2,58 millions
- Paper Mario: The Millennium Door ➔ 1,94 million (+ 180 000)
- Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD ➔ 1,57 million (+ 380 000)
