Nintendo has announced strong first quarter earnings, driven by strong sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Earlier today, Nintendo had its quarterly investor report, where the company announced a massive increase in profits driven by sales of Nintendo Switch hardware and software. The company reported operating profits of 144.7 billion yen, an increase of over 447% from the same period last year. This translates to profits of about $1.4 billion US dollars. The surge in profits was due to a massive increase in Nintendo Switch, which was likely driven by the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Per the report, sales of the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Switch Lite were up over 167% from last year.
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Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the company’s biggest seller, with 22.4 million units sold. That figure makes it the biggest selling installment of Animal Crossing and the second highest selling game for the Nintendo Switch, behind only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Over half of the Nintendo Switch systems purchased over the last three months were used to play Animal Crossing: New Horizons on their first day of activation.
Digital sales were a big part of Nintendo’s recent success, accounting for 55.6% of overall sales during the last 3 months. The company’s digital sales were up over 200% from last year, likely due to people minimizing their travel and store visits.
The wider video game industry has largely experienced a surge in sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of people look for alternative forms of entertainment. U.S spending on video games reached $1.2 billion in June, its highest monthly figure in a decade.
Nintendo’s stock price was up nearly 5% today as a result of the earnings report. The stock is trading near its 52-week high and is at its highest price since 2007.
You can check out Nintendo’s full earnings report on their website.
