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[Luminoth-4545]

Nintendo's earnings report for the 4th quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31st 2022 has been published, this covers the three month period from January 1st to March 31st 2022. The Nintendo Switch shipped 4.11 million units of hardware and 55.77 million units of software bringing lifetime totals to 107.65 million for hardware and 822.18 million for software. Full the full fiscal year Nintendo Shipped 23.06 million units of hardware and 235.06 million units of software.

Year over year quarter 4 hardware sales are 13% (0.61 million) down from 4.72 million and software sales are 2% (0.99 million) up from 54.78 million.
Year over year fiscal year hardware sales are 20% (5.76 million) down from 28.82m and software sales are 2% (4.18 million) up from 230.88 million.

Four titles sold over 1 million units this quarter - New releases Pokemon Legends Arceus (12.64 million) and Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2.65 million) plus evergreen titles Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (1.98 million) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (1.02 million).

Nintendo are forecasting 21 million hardware units and 210 million software units shipped for the fiscal year ending March 31st 2023.

Hardware

Switch Hardware Q4: 4.11m
Regional Split Q4: Japan 870k, America's 1.91m, Europe 620k, Other 710k
Model Variants Q4: Standard 1.77m, Lite 0.53m, Oled 1.81m

Switch Hardware FY 2021-22: 23.06m
Regional Split FY 2021-22: Japan 5.19m, America's 8.75m, Europe 6.02m, Other 3.10m
Model Variants FY 2021-22: Standard 13.56m, Lite 3.70m, Oled 5.80m

Switch Hardware Total: 107.65m
Regional Split Total: Japan 25.23m, America's 42.03m, Europe 27.60m, Other 12.80m
Model Variants Total: Standard 83.45m, Lite 18.40m, Oled 5.80m

Global shipment history

Software

Switch Software Q4: 55.77m
Regional Split Q4: Japan 11.16m, America's 23.63m, Europe 14.93m, Other 6.05m
Tie Ratio Q4: 13.57

Switch Software FY 2021-22: 235.06m
Regional Split FY 2021-22: Japan 42.14m, America's 108.27m, Europe 65.78m, Other 18.88m
Tie Ratio FY 2021-22: 10.19

Switch Software Total: 822.18m
Regional Split Total: Japan 154.36m, America's 369.27m, Europe 237.93m, Other 60.62m
Tie Ratio Total: 7.63

Global Shipment history

Nintendo reports sales data for software charting in the top 10 or that has sold one million or more units within the current fiscal year (from 1 April 2021).

Software Top 10

Total sales followed by sales added to the total in Q4

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 45.33m + 1.98m

Animal Crossing: 38.64m + 1.02m

Smash Bros Ultimate: 28.17m + 770k

Zelda BOTW: 26.55m + 750k

Pokémon Sword/Shield: 24.27m + 370k

Super Mario Odyssey: 23.50m + 480k

Super Mario Party: 17.78m + 390k

Pokémon BD/SP: 14.65m + 680k

Pokémon Let's Go: 14.53m + 200k

Ring Fit Adventure: 14.09m + 560k

Others + New

NSMBU: 13.31m + 590k

Splatoon 2: 13.30m + 620k for Q3 & Q4

Pokémon Legends Arceus: 12.64m New

Luigi's Mansion 3: 11.43m + 390k

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury: 9.43m + 580k

Mario Party Superstars: 6.88m + 1.45m

Clubhouse Games: 4.22m + 1.08m for FY 21-22

Zelda: Skyward Sword HD: 3.91m + 60k

Metroid Dread: 2.90m + 160k

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: 2.65m New

New Pokemon Snap: 2.40m + 40k

Mario Golf: Super Rush: 2.35m + 90k

Miitopia: 1.68m + 50k

Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain: 1.59m + 310k

WarioWare: Get It Together: 1.27m + 30k

Game Builder Garage: 1.06m + 50k



Net sales: 1,302.2 billion yen
Operating profit: 472.5 billion yen
Ordinary profit: 513.7 billion yen



Hardware Forecast: 21 million for FY 2022-23
Software Forecast: 210 million for FY 2022-23

IR Information : Sales Data - Dedicated Video Game Sales Units (nintendo.co.jp)
IR Information : Sales Data - Top Selling Title Sales Units (nintendo.co.jp)


Quarterly and yearly sales of Nintendo Switch compared to other successful platforms.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Bar charts for hardware and software.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Yearly Sales Compared to other Nintendo consoles

 

[Astral Dog]

All impressive numbers, Metroid Dread is now the best selling Metroid title, should pass 3 million this year, an amazing achievment for the series and comeback, Kirby and the Forgotten Land sold more than 2.5 million in less than two weeks, should become best selling Kirby game no problem, Pokemon Legends has passed 12 million in only 2 months. For an 'spin off' game selling on one platform these numbers are very good, it will only increase hype for the main Pokemon games releasing later this year as Pokefans are crazy about it.

Switch will continue to sell hardware and software years after its successor comes out(with a small pricecut and cross generation games) so if they do manage to sell 20M this year they will be on a very good place

 

[nominedomine]

The Switch will end up selling more than the PS2, wild.

Those Nintendo software sales are absurd as well.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

All impressive numbers, Metroid Dread is now the best selling Metroid title, should pass 3 million this year, an amazing achievment for the series and comeback, Kirby and the Forgotten Land sold more than 2.5 million in less than two weeks, should become best selling Kirby game no problem, Pokemon Legends has passed 12 million in only 2 months. For an 'spin off' game selling on one platform these numbers are very good, it will only increase hype for the main Pokemon games releasing later this year as Pokefans are crazy about it.

Switch will continue to sell hardware and software years after its successor comes out(with a small pricecut and cross generation games) so if they do manage to sell 20M this year they will be on a very good place

I think Kirby will have strong legs and can sell 3 to 4 million this upcoming fiscal year. I also expect PLA to outsell BDSP eventually due to having better legs, remakes tend to fall off quicker.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

The Switch will end up selling more than the PS2, wild.

Those Nintendo software sales are absurd as well.

It will be the first Nintendo platform to sell 1 billion software, 1.25 billion is certain at this point maybe it will even get close to 1.5 billion.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Here are the yearly sales of evergreen first party software in order of release date.

 

[mckmas8808]

Crazy numbers!

 

[nominedomine]

It will be the first Nintendo platform to sell 1 billion software, 1.25 billion is certain at this point maybe it will even get close to 1.5 billion.

I'm scared of the Switch 2. I think Nintendo and NVidia could easily do something much better that will actually be able to get proper multiplatform ports from current gen third party games (mostly because of DLSS and the Series S keeping that base target for current gen only games really low).

They won't need to reinvent the wheel this time, the successor just needs to be a refinement (and there is plenty to refine). That's not usually how Nintendo approach their hardware but I think it would be insane for them not to do that this time.

 

[Mozza]

Bar chart for Software and Hardware.

Did you guess correct, or did they sell a bit more.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Did you guess correct, or did they sell a bit more.

I predicted 3.9 million and they sold 4.1 million.

 

[Mozza]

I predicted 3.9 million and they sold 4.1 million.

Your prediction was pretty close to be honest, where do you think it will end up, I suppose the Switch 2 will have an impact in all this, but as I am not expecting a reveal till late 2024 wit a launch sometime in 2025, the Switch could go pretty close to the DS and PS2 lifetime totals.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Your prediction was pretty close to be honest, where do you think it will end up, I suppose the Switch 2 will have an impact in all this, but as I am not expecting a reveal till late 2024 wit a launch sometime in 2025, the Switch could go pretty close to the DS and PS2 lifetime totals.

I'm thinking around 160 million.

 

[Mozza]

I'm thinking around 160 million.

So the Switch could be the best selling console ever, if you take a second to let that sink in, as it came after the Wii U failure, when many were writing Nintendo off, and the Switch was going to sell just over the Wii U total at best, how quickly a companies fortunes can change.

 

[Mr Hyde]

The Switch effect.

Fantastic console. One of my all time faves and I will certainly look back at it with fond memories when it's eventually time to move on. Hats off to Nintendo, especially when being in a tight spot with the Wii U fiasco.

 

[VolticArchangel]

What a fuckin' wild ride.

Also, they just semi-confirmed in their investor call that there's no Switch Pro or Super Switch in sight due to the chip shortage.

Yeah, will probably do DS numbers lol, and will overtake the PS4 with ease by the end of this year. Holiday sales will be nuts. Guessing around 120M+ LTD in Jan 2023.

 

[nominedomine]

The Switch effect.

Fantastic console. One of my all time faves and I will certainly look back at it with fond memories when it's eventually time to move on. Hats off to Nintendo, especially when being in a tight spot with the Wii U fiasco.

Poor WiiU, 3 of the top 4 best selling Switch games are actually Switch versions of WiiU games.

 

[Azelover]

I was hoping they were gonna say something about a potential June Direct.

We're getting a little close, so I think it probably ain't happening. Sad..

 

[Deerock71]

It will be the first Nintendo platform to sell 1 billion software, 1.25 billion is certain at this point maybe it will even get close to 1.5 billion.

But EA and Actiblizz still waiting this Switch experiment out before releasing their heavy-hitters.

 

[MrA]

It will be the first Nintendo platform to sell 1 billion software, 1.25 billion is certain at this point maybe it will even get close to 1.5 billion.

don't forget nintendo excludes download only games in there totals for some reason

Poor WiiU, 3 of the top 4 best selling Switch games are actually Switch versions of WiiU games.

Dude smash ultimate isn't the wiiu game and botw came when the wiiu was dead

 

[Luminoth-4545]

don't forget nintendo excludes download only games in there totals for some reason

Because download only games would include those garbage $0.99 third rate indie games. That would not be a good representation of total software if those were included.

 

[Astral Dog]

Poor WiiU, 3 of the top 4 best selling Switch games are actually Switch versions of WiiU games.

This says more about how good Wii U games really are, if they were lesser titles they wouldn't be breaking records now.

The Wii U, while a failure was a necessary step to the Switch and Nintendo learned a lot from it

 

[nominedomine]

Dude smash ultimate isn't the wiiu game and botw came when the wiiu was dead

I don't play Smash so I honestly forgot it's a different game. My bad.

This says more about how good Wii U games really are, if they were lesser titles they wouldn't be breaking records now.

The Wii U, while a failure was a necessary step to the Switch

I really like the WiiU library, I think the Switch owes a lot to the WiiU it got plenty of games from it including Zelda BoTW that for me to this day is the reason to own a Switch.

I think Nintendo could've done a lot more in terms of game output with the Switch. It had a great start with Mario Odyssey and Zelda BoTW but after that there wasn't really anything for me, way too much reliance on established series that I'm not really into.

The 3DS+WiiU library is much better than the Switch library by a vast margin, at least for me.

 

[Kusarigama]

Nintendo switch is such an anomaly. How it keeps doing such crazy numbers is mind boggling. A cart racing game selling that much!? And then animal crossing at number 2.

 

[Hoddi]

I really like the WiiU library, I think the Switch owes a lot to the WiiU it got plenty of games from it including Zelda BoTW that for me to this day is the reason to own a Switch.

I'd rather say Switch owners owe a lot the the Wii U. It's still Ninty's most underrated system, in my opinion, yet people keep bashing it.

 

[Astral Dog]

I don't play Smash so I honestly forgot it's a different game. My bad.


I really like the WiiU library, I think the Switch owes a lot to the WiiU it got plenty of games from it including Zelda BoTW that for me to this day is the reason to own a Switch.

I think Nintendo could've done a lot more in terms of game output with the Switch. It had a great start with Mario Odyssey and Zelda BoTW but after that there wasn't really anything for me, way too much reliance on established series that I'm not really into.

The 3DS+WiiU library is much better than the Switch library by a vast margin, at least for me.

friend you should get your hands on Bayonetta and Astral Chain asap, the latter is a whole new Nintendo ip that's simply rad, Xenoblade and Splatoon are very solid as well if they catch your attention but its better to wait for the new ones coming in a few months imo(because of the multiplayer)

All of the above are brand new first party games outside Nintendo's usual series, high quality on their respective genres that are must play on Switch

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Switch sold 185m first party games in a single year. Jesus Christ.

 

[Jaybe]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: 45.33m (1.98m)

+ another 8.5 million for Mario Kart 8 on the WiiU

Such a beast.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Hard to say where lifetimes sales will end, but they may overtake the GBC this year. Can they maintain this momentum deep into 2023? I’m not sure, but they certainly have runway left this year and into early next.

 

[TLZ]

Yearly Sales Compared to other Nintendo consoles

The Switch will end up selling more than the PS2, wild.

Those Nintendo software sales are absurd as well.

Going by the trend from the image, it's not likely.

And going by that trend too, it's very likely we see their new console in FY 23-24, or tail end of FY 23 (March 23).

 

[Deerock71]

Going by the trend from the image, it's not likely.

And going by that trend too, it's very likely we see their new console in FY 23-24, or tail end of FY 23 (March 23).

Quick question: how many price cuts did the PS2 have at this point in it's life cycle? Do you realize how FEW (if any) sales boosters Nintendo has needed to do with this behemoth of a system? They're in PRIME striking distance of the unattainable Mt. PS2.

 

[Robb]

Insane performance. Not sure if it’ll beat the Ps2 or DS, although that’d be neat, but it’ll definitely end up being the 3rd best selling system of all time.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Insane performance. Not sure if it’ll beat the Ps2 or DS, although that’d be neat, but it’ll definitely end up being the 3rd best selling system of all time.

Hardware sales are good for prestige I guess, but Nintendo will care more about revenue and profit. The Switch is already easily the most profitable console in history and revenue is also looking good (comparable to Wii times).

 

[Robb]

Hardware sales are good for prestige I guess, but Nintendo will care more about revenue and profit

Of course, they could ditch the Switch right now and still have made more than enough.

I just personally never thought a console would come close to DS/Ps2 numbers again. It’d just be neat to see.

 

[Andyliini]

Of course, they could ditch the Switch right now and still have made more than enough.

I just personally never thought a console would come close to DS/Ps2 numbers again. It’d just be neat to see.

Well, Nintendo did project 21 million consoles shipped for Fiscal Year 2022. If it's correct, it would put Switch around 128 million consoles sold by March 2023. That's already astronomically high, but DS would still be over 26 million consoles ahead. It is not easy to sell that much on console on it's twilight years, but Switch has had no price cuts yet, which could make the system easy to sell on it's way out.

As far as I know, PS2 achieved those numbers by staying in the market far after the successor released, by being highly available and affordable, and because it had a huge library of games. It was also helped by PS3's belly flop. Now, Switch can be put into a similar situation, but whether Nintendo will do it or not is a different matter. Though like you said, Switch has already made massive profits, so I don't think Nintendo even cares at this point if it becomes best selling console ever or not.

 

[DenchDeckard]

5 years in and selling twice as much as the competition in a quarter is crazy. Switch has been nothing but beast mode.

 

[TLZ]

Quick question: how many price cuts did the PS2 have at this point in it's life cycle? Do you realize how FEW (if any) sales boosters Nintendo has needed to do with this behemoth of a system? They're in PRIME striking distance of the unattainable Mt. PS2.

Looking at Nintendo's trends is enough. That's all I need to compare to and see.

 

[nominedomine]

friend you should get your hands on Bayonetta and Astral Chain asap, the latter is a whole new Nintendo ip that's simply rad, Xenoblade and Splatoon are very solid as well if they catch your attention but its better to wait for the new ones coming in a few months imo(because of the multiplayer)

All of the above are brand new first party games outside Nintendo's usual series, high quality on their respective genres that are must play on Switch

I dont understand, Bayonetta, Xenoblade and Splatoon are all sequels. None of them apeal to me anyway. I'm only excites out BotW 2 and that is ok.

I migth give Xenoblade another shot at some point but it looks like it will take me 150+ hours to get to the new one, that is a bit overwhelming already.

I really like Fire Emblem Awakening but the ones that came after I couldn't get into. This happens to a lot of Nintendo series to me Pokemon, Mario Kart, etc, I really liked them the first time I played a game in those series but I can't get myself to care about the new games.

 

[Deerock71]

Looking at Nintendo's trends is enough. That's all I need to compare to and see.

 

[jufonuk]

Can they take the top spot from Sony ?

 

[Woopah]

Looking at Nintendo's trends is enough. That's all I need to compare to and see.

The Switch is already following a different trend from past Nintendo consoles, therefore those trends will not be too helpful when predicting Switch's future.

 

[yurinka]

5 years in and selling twice as much as the competition in a quarter is crazy. Switch has been nothing but beast mode.

It isn't that crazy since the competition is severely supply constrained and didn't sell more because couldn't manufacture more consoles. Unlike Switch they are constantly sold out worldwide.

Can they take the top spot from Sony ?

If you ask if Switch will pass PS4 LTD HW sales yes, specially if Sony discontinues PS4 while still being severely supply constrained.
If you ask about PS2 LTD HW sales record, I think no.
If you ask about their global revenue, total SW sales, 3P sales, game subs or MAU Sony is above them every year, so won't catch them.

And regarding operating income/operating profit Sony is getting closer but Nintendo is above (592.7B vs 346.1B Yen, not counting Sony's mobile games, PlayStation movies etc, counting only Sony's game division). Next fiscal year Sony will close acquisitions like Bungie or Haven, will invest $300M+ to grow the other existing gamedev teams and will release PSVR2, meaning their profit will be smaller (they estimate ~10% down YoY).

The Switch is already following a different trend from past Nintendo consoles, therefore those trends will not be too helpful when predicting Switch's future.

It's useful to look at the curve that makes the graph with yearly HW sales of all the consoles, not only Nintendo ones. All of them have a curve where during the first years they grow until somewhere around the 2nd-5th year the peak and starting from here every year start to go down until sunseting. Nintendo expected to have that peak before covid but the covid bump did help to have it around a year later and once passed it started to go down.

Typically the companies release the successor before the yearly sales are too low, to combine the sunseting console and the growing console and almost have similar numbers of when being in the top part of the curve and avoid periods where they have a too low number total yearly hw sales.

 

[DenchDeckard]

It isn't that crazy since the competition is severely supply constrained and didn't sell more because couldn't manufacture more consoles. Unlike Switch they are constantly sold out worldwide.

Oh yeah, I totally get that. It deffo wouldn't have sold double if stock was freely available on all consoles but its still achieved it this last quarter. Switch is flying.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Can they take the top spot from Sony ?

Depends on the metric. Nintendo has been the profit king for a while now. They're also crushing everyone in 1st party sales. But they're now in last place with regards to revenue (Nintendo: $13B, Xbox: $16.5B, Playstation: $24B).

 

[yurinka]

Oh yeah, I totally get that. It deffo wouldn't have sold double if stock was freely available on all consoles but its still achieved it this last quarter. Switch is flying.

Yes, Switch is down YoY as normal in the sunseting half of the lifetime sales curve of any console but still sells a ton of units.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Will it beat DS and PS2 numbers is the next question

 

[TLZ]

The Switch is already following a different trend from past Nintendo consoles, therefore those trends will not be too helpful when predicting Switch's future.

It isn't.

 

[CatLady]

Switch is a total beast, and those software numbers are phenomenal. Good to see Nintendo doing so well.

 

[Mozza]

Nintendo switch is such an anomaly. How it keeps doing such crazy numbers is mind boggling. A cart racing game selling that much!? And then animal crossing at number 2.

Not an anomaly. the mass market simply has different tastes and reasons for buying consoles, you make something that resonates with them and the sky is the limit.