Nintendo Financial Results: 2nd Quarter of Fiscal Year Ending March 2022

The financial results for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 2022 reflect a period of year-on-year decline for Nintendo, primarily driven by the absence of the exceptional sales momentum generated by Animal Crossing: New Horizons during the same period in the previous fiscal year. Net sales for the six-month period ending September 30, 2021, fell by 18.9% to 624.2 billion yen, while operating profit decreased by 24.5% to 219.9 billion yen. Despite these declines, the company maintained a high level of profitability, with an operating profit margin of 35.2%.

The dedicated video game platform segment, which accounts for the vast majority of revenue, saw a 19.5% drop in sales. Hardware unit sales for the Nintendo Switch family reached 8.28 million units, a 34% decrease compared to the prior year. This reduction was attributed to the high baseline set by the previous year’s performance and a significant decline in Nintendo Switch Lite sales. Software sales also experienced a 6.3% decline to 93.89 million units, though the company successfully launched several million-seller titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and New Pokémon Snap.

In response to these results and the ongoing global semiconductor shortage, the company revised its full-year forecast. While the net sales projection remains unchanged at 1.6 trillion yen, profit forecasts were adjusted upward due to favorable exchange rate assumptions. The hardware shipment forecast was reduced by 1.5 million units to 24 million, while the software sales forecast was increased by 10 million units to 200 million. The company continues to rely on a robust pipeline of upcoming software and the introduction of the Nintendo Switch OLED model to sustain momentum through the second half of the fiscal year.