Nintendo has smashed its own first-quarter profit records thanks to the success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The last time the company set a fiscal Q1 earnings record was in 2020 when it earned 144.7 billion yen (roughly $1.3 billion CAD). The boost was likely owed to pandemic shopping. This year, however, the gaming giant reported a net income of 185.44 billion yen (roughly $1.7 billion CAD) on revenue of 461.3 billion yen (roughly $4.3 billion CAD) for the three months ending June 30th, according to its latest earnings report.
The two main contributing factors to the record-breaking revenue were the strong sales of April’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie and May’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game for the Switch console.
The movie has grossed $1.349 billion USD (roughly $1.8 billion CAD) worldwide as of July 26th, making it the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time and the highest-grossing original film based on a video game.
The Zelda title, on the other hand, has sold roughly 18.51 million copies, and also likely helped drive Switch console sales. For reference, Switch sales went up from 3.43 million units a year ago to 3.91 million units last quarter. Of those, 2.83 million were the newer OLED model.
However, it is also worth noting that the Japanese Yen has depreciated against foreign currencies, especially against the U.S. dollar. This results in an increased sale amount in Yen when converted from other currencies.
Japanese Yen against the U.S. dollar since April 2023
Further, the company doesn’t have any major game releases for the rest of the year. Upcoming 2023 Switch releases include Mortal Kombat 1, Detective Pikachu Returns, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, WarioWare: Move It! and Super Mario RPG, but they’re unlikely to have as big an impact as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The company also hasn’t announced a successor to the Switch, and the aging console faces competition from newer devices like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Rumours have circulated that a next-gen Switch could arrive in 2024.
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
