Nintendo has released its yearly financial report and it makes for some very interesting reading. The company has reported an increase in profit of nearly $1 billion when compared to the previous financial year, as well as increases in the company's digital and mobile markets. The digital market saw the most impressive growth, with a 95% increase in the number of digital downloads served by Nintendo, impressive for a company with a history of poor implementation of online features. This increase was also paired with a massive number of new sign-ups to their online service, with a total of 9.8 million Switch online accounts created. The growth in the mobile games market was considerably smaller, coming in at around a 17% increase in income from mobile games.
In terms of sales, the company attributes much of the success of the Nintendo Switch to its strong software library, with sales of certain software titles contributing to more hardware selling. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold a staggering 13.81 million units since it launched in December of last year - more than the lifetime sales of the Wii U. Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let's Go Eevee managed to pull in a combined sales total of 10.63 million units, marking another huge success for the company. Hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch totaled 16.95 million units over the past fiscal year as the lifetime sales for the Switch surpassed the Nintendo 64 and the total software sales count comes in at 118.55 million units sold in total.
Despite all the success, some markets were down, although they are of arguable importance to the company. 8 years on from its release sales of the 3DS are in a steady decline along with software sales for the handheld console. With the release of the Switch, it is of little surprise that a competing handheld is seeing a nosedive in sales, not helped by being 8-year-old technology. With a total gross profit increase of over 24% it seems like the 2018/2019 fiscal year has been a huge success for Nintendo and their shareholders.
What do you think about Nintendo's financial success? How much of their increased profit is attributable to the Switch? Let us know what you think down below.