Nintendo’s financial report reveals declining sales

The Switch is hot stuff, but it may be cooling ever so slightly, as the latest Nintendo financial report shows a 22.9% drop in hardware sales and an 8.6% drop in software sales (both year on year). This means that net sales have dropped from 322.6 bn yen for the same quarter last financial year, to 307.4 bn yen this time round. That’s a 4.7% decrease. The main issue noted is the semiconductor shortage which affected production this first quarter.

There’s some good news, though, as Mario Strikers Battle League has sold over a million copies, while Nintendo Switch Sports and Kirby and the Forgotten Land are creeping up on the five million mark. The other million-seller in Nintendo’s financial report was, well, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Y’know, just an eight-year-old game, selling almost as much as a new Mario Sports game.

Anyway, Kirby’s release was massive for the series, with the new title selling over 4 million units in its first 15 weeks. “This marks the highest sell-through of any entry to date in the Kirby series, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in April of this year.” Three cheers for the pink puffball. What a fella.

There’s still some other sad stuff, however, as Nintendo’s financial report also noted mobile and IP-related business, with overall sales decreasing by 16.8% for a total of 10.9 billion yen year on year. Whether this decline is because people aren’t stuck inside so much or because of the struggling global economy and cost of living crises in multiple countries is hard to say, but I bet you it’s the latter.

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A slide from a Nintendo financial report, showing two graphs. One shows decreased hardware sales, with the OLED Switch model coming in and taking a good chunk of total sales, while the other shows an increase on sell-through for Switch party titles. The text reads: While hardware sell-through decreased, first-party software sell-through increased year-on-year. First-party software sell-through reached the second highest level for a first quarter since the launch of Nintendo Switch.

A slide from a recent Nintendo financial report which reads "Nintendo Switch Sports and other new titles helped propel sell-through." With pictures of said game, Mario Strikers Battle League, and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes below it. On the right is a graph showing an increase in annual playing users to 4 million. The text there reads: "Annual playing users continued to rise."

A slide from a recent Nintendo financial report showing three Kirby games on a graph, with Kirby and the Forgotten Land selling more in 15 weeks than Kirby Star Allies and Kirby Triple Deluxe did in their lifetime. On the right, there is key art for the game and text that reads: "Kirby and the Forgotten Land, released on March 25, saw the highest sell-through for any entry in the series to date"

Anyway, check out a gallery of notable slides from the Nintendo financial report above, or check out our Xenoblade Chronicles 3 review to see if you can guess how much it’s gonna sell.