Nintendo Downgrades Annual Projections Following 34% Decline in First-Half Sales to $3.4 Billion

Nintendo has released its financial results for the six months ending September 30, revealing declines in both hardware and software sales as the company awaits the release of the Switch's successor. For the first half of its fiscal year, Nintendo reported a 34% decline in net sales, a 31% decrease in hardware sales, and a 27.6% drop in software sales, prompting the company to revise its full-year projections downward. Key figures include net sales of ¥523.3 billion ($3.4 billion), operating profit of ¥121.5 billion ($798.3 million), and ordinary profit of ¥147.1 billion ($966.5 million). Hardware sales totaled 4.72 million units, while software sales reached 70.28 million units. The first half of the fiscal year was marked by tough comparisons with the same period in 2023, which saw the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros Movie. Nintendo has adjusted its full-year forecasts, now expecting net sales of ¥1.28 trillion ($8.4 billion) and operating profit of ¥360 billion ($2.4 billion), down from initial projections of ¥1.35 trillion ($8.9 billion) and ¥400 billion ($2.6 billion), respectively. The declines are largely attributed to the aging Switch, which is now in its eighth year on the market. Notable software sales highlights include The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom with 2.58 million copies sold, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door with 1.94 million copies, and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD with 1.57 million copies. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continued to perform well, selling 2.31 million copies and bringing its lifetime sales to over 64 million units. In hardware, the OLED model was the top seller with 2.5 million units, despite selling 20 million fewer units than the same period last year. Lifetime sales for Switch hardware have surpassed 146 million units, with software sales reaching 1.3 billion units. Digital spending declined 27% year-over-year to ¥159.9 billion ($1.1 billion), while mobile and IP-related revenues dropped 43% to ¥31.2 billion ($205 million).