Nintendo Financial Results – Q1 2015-16

Today, Nintendo revealed its results for the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2015-16 (April 1st, 2015 / June 30th, 2015), and good news: not only did the company beat market expectations, and it was also in the black!

First, let’s start with some raw data:

– Net Sales: 90 223 million Yen (660 million € / 730 million $ / 568 million $), +20.8% compared to the same period in 2014
– Operating Income: 1 149 million Yen (8.4 million € / 9.3 million $ / 5.9 million £) vs losses during the same period in 2014
– Ordinary income: 14 286 million Yen (104 million € / 115 million $ / 74 million £) vs losses during the same period in 2014
– Net income: 8 284 million Yen (60 million € / 67 million $ / 43 million £), vs losses during the same period in 2014.
– Digital Sales: 12 billion Yen (26.45% of total sales / 87 million € / 97 million $ / 62 million £), vs 5 billion Yen in 2014 (12.56% of total sales).

The following graph show the geographical sales breakdown. As you can see, sales are up pretty much everywhere, except in Europe where they’re slightly down Year on Year.

Hardware / Software Sales

– Nintendo 3DS: 1.01 million
– Wii U: 470 000
– Nintendo 3DS Software: 7.92 million
– Wii U Software: 4.55 million

Nintendo comments

Nintendo notes that the New Nintendo 3DS (XL) expanded their sales during the first quarter of FY2015-16, which allowed Hardware sale to reach 1.01 million worldwide. The company also mentionned Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright and Conquest, which is off to a good start in Japan, while Rhythm Heaven: The Best+ and Girls Mode 3: KiraKira Code gained popularity among female players.

Total Software sales for the Nintendo 3DS reached 7.92 million worldwide, thanks to popular games in Japan, but also Puzzle & Dragons Z + Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition in the West, apparently.

On Wii U, Splatoon sold over 1.62 million units worldwide, and did contribute to vitalising the Wii U overall (it’s quite visible in Japan, where the game has had a positive, albeit limited, impact on Hardware sales). Hardware-wise, only 470 000 Wii U consoles were sold, which means Nintendo still need to sell a little under 3 million units before the end of March 2016 in order to reach its FY 2015-16 forecast (3.4 million units).

Net sales were 90.2 billion (65 billion Yen, 72.1% of the total, from outside Japan) and operating income was 1.1 billion Yen, due to several factors such as favorable amiibo sales, for example. Due to a yen weaker than the dollar or the euro, foreign exchange gains totaled 10.8 billion Yen during Q1 2015-16.

Forecast

Nintendo 3DS

For the rest of the year, Nintendo will count on the following titles:

– Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer (July 30th in Japan, September 25th in North America and October 2nd in Europe);
– Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (September 17th in Japan, before the end of the year in North America and in Early 2016 in Europe);
– Chibi Robo! Zip Lash (this Fall, worldwide);
– The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (before the end of the year, worldwide);
– several key titles from third-party publishers.

Thanks to those, Nintendo is aiming to expand the Nintendo 3DS business.

Wii U

For the Wii U, Nintendo is aiming to “further enhance the sales towards the year-end sales season”. To do so, they will rely on several key titles, such as:

– Yoshi’s Woolly World (out in Europe and Japan, October 16th in North America);
– Super Mario Maker (September 10th in Japan, and September 11th in Europe and North America);
– Star Fox Zero
– Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash

And of course, Nintendo plan on releasing more DLC for already-released titles with “strong sales potential” (such as Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS).

Source: Nintendo