Nintendo has released its financial report for its FY20 year earnings, which go from April 1st, 2019 – March 31st, 2020. While the report itself goes into some heavy details, some major points to take away include an increase in Switch sales, huge jumps in units for certain first-party titles, and uncertain expectations for next year.
The Switch Has Another Good Year
Source: [nintendolife.com]As what seems to have become standard for Nintendo’s flagship console, the Nintendo Switch has seen a rise in its sales figures, with the report indicating that the Switch system family combined sold 21.03 million units last year. This indicates that Switch hardware sales have increased by a good 24.0%, which has pushed worldwide lifetime sales to a grand 55.77 million. This now makes the Switch Nintendo’s third best-selling console of all-time, with it closely behind the NES and its 61.91 million sales.
As mentioned, these numbers encompass the entire Switch family, meaning that the release of the Nintendo Switch Lite last September clearly had a hand in the jump. Specifically, the Switch Lite provided 6.19 million of those sales.
Source: [medium.com]Of course, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has performed well above Nintendo’s expectations. Previously, the company announced that New Horizons sold a major 11.77 million copies as of March 31st, 2020. Considering the game released on March 20th, this is a gigantic accomplishment for such a short window. Now Nintendo has provided an update that goes beyond the FY20 year. After six weeks in the wild, Animal Crossing: New Horizons had sold 13.41 million copies. This means that the game has already outsold both Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.
Pokémon Sword and Shield have also shown stellar numbers, with sales jumping to 17.37 million units. This makes Sword and Shield one of the most successful games in the series, pushing past Pokémon X and Y, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Saphire, and Pokémon Sun and Moon.
The New Top 10 Switch Games
Source: [techradar.com]Of course, with new titles doing amazingly well on the market and older ones still seeing growth, the line-up for Nintendo’s top 10 best-selling Switch games has shaken up a bit. Most noticeable is Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ sales skyrocketing to number seven, beating out Splatoon 2 (10.13 million), Super Mario Party (10.10 million), and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (6.60 million). Keep in mind that the Nintendo FY20 report only goes to March 31st, 2020, which means that it uses New Horizons’ 11.77 million units rather than the more current 13.41 million. Other than that, figures seem to have risen across the board, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe holding on to the number one spot at 24.77 million units. You can see the full list down below.
1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 24.77 million
2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 18.84 million
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 17.41 million
4. Super Mario Odyssey – 17.41 million
5. Pokémon Sword and Shield – 17.37 million
6. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu!/Let’s Go, Eevee! – 11.97 million
7. Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 11.77 Million
8. Splatoon 2 – 10.13 million
9. Super Mario Party – 10.10 Million
10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe -6.60 Million
Nintendo’s Future Expectations
Source: [nintendo.com]As with most of the company’s yearly reports, Nintendo has given some insight into what it believes the future holds. Moreover, it details the expected sales numbers for next year and any potential delays that could occur due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nintendo currently predicts a 9.6% drop in Switch hardware sales, resulting in only 19 million units selling worldwide over the next year. In the report, the company credits this forecast to concerns that the coronavirus “will lead to a global decline in production and consumption.”
Sadly, software sales are also expected to decline, with Nintendo foreseeing a drop of 17% throughout the year. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as the industry giant’s known 2020 line-up doesn’t show a lot of promise. Right now, all planned first-party releases include Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition on May 29th, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics on June 5th, and the Pokémon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass sometime this summer. It should be noted that Nintendo does expect to pad out the year with third-party titles, stating “other software publishers also plan to release a wide variety of appealing titles, and the combination of existing popular titles and a continuous stream of appealing new titles will work together to invigorate the platform.”
In regards to delays, Nintendo outlines a few ways in which its business could see setbacks. The first obviously refers to the development of games and services halting due to COVID-19. The report also mentions that physical sales could become hindered, as retail stores remain closed as the pandemic continues. The company does reveal, however, that current world events “only had limited impact on business results for this fiscal year,” and that any shipping and production issues are “gradually recovering.”
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