Nintendo Keeps Surging During Covid-19

Nintendo has reported massive increases in sales this year, with millions of people buying hardware and games, despite the pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic keeps giving. For Nintendo, the pandemic means a leap in profits by more than 240%. Since more people are at home, they have nothing else to do but work, watch Netflix, and play video games.

Nintendo Profits

Kotaku reports that Nintendo’s year-on-year net sales have jumped by 73.3%. On the other hand, the company’s net profit spiked by 243.6%, which netted Nintendo 213 billion yen ($2 billion). 

Well, Nintendo is doing great: https://t.co/Jd21E20Owm pic.twitter.com/Q1Gte5iiR0

— Kotaku (@Kotaku) November 5, 2020

Nintendo Sales

Millions of consumers also bought Nintendo’s hardware this year. Nintendo reported sales of 12.53 million units worldwide. This number marks an 80.9% year on year increase. About 8.36 million units were Switches, while 5.17 million were Switch Lites.

Moreover, millions of people also bought Nintendo’s software. They bought physical and digital versions of the games. In 2019, Nintendo sold 54.98 million games during the same period. This year, that number jumped to 100.25 million. Nintendo’s best-sellers were the following games:

•     Animal Crossing: New Horizons (14.27 million units)
•     Super Mario 3D All-Stars (5.21 million units)
•     Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (4.21 million units)
•     Ring Fit Adventure (3.11 million units)

This year, the company reported a 139% increase in digital sales. That increase netted Nintendo 171.5 billion yen ($1.7 billion). Of the 20 Switch games that sold at least 1 million copies, Nintendo published 15. 

Nintendo’s Future

Nintendo expects a 50% increase in net profit for this financial year. Last year, they expected to sell 19 million Switches, but now they forecast 24 million. This figure is also higher than the 21 million units sold last year. 

The company also expects to sell 170 million games, up from the earlier forecast of 140 million. Last year, Nintendo’s sold 168 million units.