Nintendo ups forecast as hardware, software sales soar during holiday quarter

Nintendo Co. Ltd. raised its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2021 as strong sales spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic continued through the recent holiday shopping season.

The Japanese video game company shipped more than 24.1 million Switch consoles from April 2020 through December 2020, up 35.8% year over year. The shipments included about 16.8 million of the original Switch device and about 7.3 million units of the portable-only Switch Lite model.

"The release of software titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons this fiscal year encouraged more new consumers to purchase Nintendo Switch family hardware, and also encouraged more families that already owned the hardware to purchase a second one," Nintendo told investors Feb. 1.

Software sales for the Switch were driven by Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which sold 19.4 million copies from April 2020 through December 2020, bringing total sales to about 31.2 million units. The social simulation game's lifetime sales are closing in on Nintendo's best-selling Switch game of all time, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has reached about 33.4 million sales.

Nintendo's operating profit for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2020, grew 98.2% to ¥521.11 billion, from ¥262.93 billion a year ago. Profit attributable to owners of the parent company rose 91.8% to ¥376.67 billion, while net sales for the period reached ¥1.404 trillion, up 37.3% year over year.

The company expects full-year fiscal 2021 net sales of ¥1.6 trillion and operating profit of ¥560 billion, compared to its previous forecast of ¥1.4 trillion and ¥440 billion, respectively. Profit attributable to owners of the parent company is now expected to total ¥400 billion, up from a previous forecast of ¥300 billion.

Nintendo also raised its console and video game shipments estimate for the fiscal year ending March 2021 and now expects 26.5 million Switch console shipments, up from 24 million units, while software unit shipments are now expected to total 205 million units, up from 170 million.

As of Jan. 29, US$1 was equivalent to ¥104.70.