Nintendo’s fiscal year results showed a decline in profit and revenue due to lower sales of its bestselling Switch platform.
The fiscal year 2022 results are here
Nintendo reported revenue of 1.6 trillion yen ($11.8 billion) for its whole fiscal year, which ran from April 2022 to March 31 this year, exceeding its own projection. That represented a decrease of 5.5% yearly. Nintendo’s fiscal year net profit was 432.7 billion yen ($3.2 billion), a decrease of more than 9% from the previous year. It outperformed the company’s own prediction of 370 billion yen ($2.7 billion), nevertheless.
In keeping with its own prediction of 18 million units for the fiscal year, the Japanese entertainment titan sold 17.97 million copies of its bestselling Nintendo Switch console series. When compared to the fiscal year that concluded in March 2022, just over 23 million Switch units were sold, a 22% decrease.
Here is the total breakdown, thanks to Nintendo life’s post:
Nintendo Switch – 6.14 million units (-54.7.1%)
Nintendo Switch – OLED Model – 9.22 million units (+58.8%)
Nintendo Switch Lite – 2.62 million units (-29.2%)
Nintendo reported that the firm “did not experience the growth in sales, primarily during the holiday season,” that it witnessed in the previous year. They also added that “shortages of semiconductors and other components impacted production until around the end of summer”.
Nintendo sales might drop even more
Nintendo predicted that 15 million Switch consoles would be sold during the upcoming fiscal year, 2024, says Japan Times.
With the Switch, which has been on the market for six years, Nintendo is battling with an older device and concerns from investors that its sales may have peaked. After a weak holiday season, the business was forced to cut its prediction for Switch sales twice during the most recent fiscal year. Nintendo has attempted to update the Switch over time by releasing a handheld model and a model with a better screen. Although it was helpful in the short term, it did little to halt the general trend of declining sales.
Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, told CNBC:
“The Nintendo Switch had a fantastic run but definitely passed its peak […] Based on the forecast for the new fiscal (year), I would not expect any miracles but rather a company running on auto-pilot and fulfilling its duty towards existing Switch users. Every console cycle comes to an end eventually, and Nintendo, too, now needs a new piece of hardware to revitalize its sales”.
In addition to these results, the upcoming 2024 Nintendo sales might drop even more due to a recent concern regarding the infamous Lockpick. The homebrew project enabling users to give up their digital keys, called Lockpick, received a DMCA takedown from Nintendo. On several Twitter posts, fans are truly not happy about this and threaten to further obtain games in illegal ways. That being said, it remains to be seen if this will truly affect Nintendo sales.
