On Thursday, Nintendo announced a remarkable 52% surge in net profit for the first fiscal quarter, attributing its success to the Super Mario movie and the latest installment of the popular Zelda video game. The demand for Nintendo Switch game software experienced a significant boost following the release of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” earlier this year, according to the company.
The animated film, centered around the beloved jumping plumber, has already captivated a massive audience, drawing more than 168 million viewers worldwide and grossing an impressive $1.3 billion. Its extraordinary performance places it as one of the top-selling animation films in history, trailing only behind “Frozen II,” and making it the highest-grossing animation film based on a video game. While “The Lion King” 2019 remake achieved even greater box office success, it is not categorized as an animation film due to its use of computer graphics.
Additionally, Nintendo enjoyed a boost in its financial results due to the immense popularity of “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” game, which launched in May as the latest addition to the acclaimed action-adventure series.
The Japanese gaming giant’s net profit for the April-June period reached a total of 181 billion yen ($1.3 billion), up from nearly 119 billion yen during the same period the previous year. Quarterly sales also saw an impressive surge of 50%, reaching 461.3 billion yen ($3.2 billion).
The demand for hardware remained strong, as evidenced by the sale of 3.9 million Nintendo Switch consoles, marking a notable increase of nearly 14%. Meanwhile, software sales experienced a substantial rise, with 52 million games sold, representing a growth of 26%.
Apart from the success of the Super Mario film and Zelda game, Nintendo’s revenue received a significant boost from its intellectual property business, which includes various royalties in addition to the film’s success.
Nintendo’s strategy of encouraging multiple Nintendo Switch consoles per household has also proven fruitful, promoting family members to play together on separate machines. Among the popular games for such interactive play was “Pikmin 4,” which became available for purchase last month, also offered as a downloadable version, contributing to Nintendo’s growing source of income.
Looking ahead, Nintendo has exciting plans for the upcoming months, with more games in the pipeline, including “Super Mario Bros. Wonder,” set to be released in October.
While Nintendo kept its full-year profit forecast unchanged at 340 billion yen ($2.4 billion), reflecting a 21% decrease compared to the previous year, the company’s consistent innovation and strong performance in recent quarters signal its continued prominence in the gaming industry.
