Nintendo lowers full-year forecast as H1 sales fall 34% to $3.4bn

gamesindustry.biz:

Nintendo has released its financial results for six months ended September 30, showing further declines in both hardware and software sales as the wait for the Switch's successor continues.

For the first half of its fiscal year, the platform holder reported a 34% decrease in net sales, 31% drop in hardware, and 27.6% fall in software. As a result, Nintendo has lowered its full-year expectations.

Here's what you need to know:

Net sales: ¥523.3 billion ($3.4 billion, down 34% year-on-year)
Operating profit: ¥121.5 billion ($798.3 million, down 57%)
Ordinary profit: ¥147.1 billion ($966.5 million, down 61.3%)

Hardware sales: 4.72 million (down 31%)
Software sales: 70.28 million (down 27.6%)

The first half of Nintendo's fiscal year suffered tough comparisons with the same period in 2023, when the company not only launched the best-selling Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom but also the box office smash that was The Super Mario Bros Movie.

While the company expected some level of decline given its lighter release slate, Nintendo did state in its results that hardware and software sales were both "below our initial expectations."

Nintendo has now modified its full-year forecasts to reflect this. The company previously expected net sales to reach ¥1.35 trillion ($8.9 billion), but now estimates ¥1.28 trillion ($8.4 billion) – down 5% on the initial forecast, and down 23% compared to the previous financial year.

The forecast for operating profit has been lowered 10% from ¥400 billion ($2.6 billion) to ¥360 billion ($2.4 billion), which will be down 32% year-on-year. Ordinary profit remains unchanged at ¥420 billion ($2.8 billion), but this will be down 38% compared to last year.

The declines can all be attributed to the ageing Switch, which is now halfway through its eighth year on shelves – longer than any past Nintendo platform. In May, alongside its full-year financial results, Nintendo announced that it would unveil the Switch's successor before April 2025.

Looking at the past