Nintendo Financial Report Shows Dip In Sales But Big Profit

Nintendo has detailed its financial results for the nine-month period ended December 2016 and reported total sales as $2.7 billion. This is around a 27 percent decline from the same period in 2015, when it cited sales as $3.7 billion.

Operating income, meanwhile, was also shown to be in decline. In 2016 it was reported as $231 million, which is 38 percent decrease from 2015's $373 million. Profit was up more than 153 percent, coming in at $909 million.

In a statement accompanying its financial report, Nintendo focused on the "blockbuster" sales of Pokemon Sun and Moon, which sold 14.6 million units. The company noted the positive knock on effect of Pokemon Go, which it said led to "increased sales of software in the Pokémon series released in the past, and drove Nintendo 3DS family hardware sales growth, particularly outside of Japan."

Sales of the 3DS were said to be 6.4 million units, which is a 10 percent year-on-year increase. Game sales for the 3DS improved similarly, reaching 46.7 million units, an increase of 20 percent year-on-year.

In addition to Pokemon Sun and Moon, Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS was highlighted as a strong performer and said to have "surpassed the million-seller mark."

Turning to the Wii U, Nintendo said it planned to ship 800,000 units during the fiscal year. It managed actually ship 760,000 units which, although a 75 percent decrease compared to 2015, was said to be "[conforming] to [Nintendo's] expectations." Performance of Wii U games also slumped year-on-year, dropping 45 percent to 12.4 million units.

Of course, Nintendo also launched Super Mario Run in this period and, in the statement, said it elicited "a fantastic response" with 40 million downloads in the four days after its launch.

Nintendo said the release of new games with Amiibo functionality "restored some momentum" for the NFC-enabled figures, but ultimately sales were "limited to 6.5 million units for figure-types and 6.6 million units for card-types."

Looking ahead, Nintendo highlighted the upcoming launch of Switch, along with its lineup of first-party launch titles, namely The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2 Switch.

Breath of the Wild will be available for Wii U on the same day and, for 3DS owners, Nintendo hopes "to maintain the buzz surrounding the hit titles Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon and Super Mario Maker" on top of "releasing new titles such as Mario Sports Superstars."

For mobile devices, Fire Emblem Heroes launches on February 2, while Super Mario Run will finally be available on Android in March. However, to make way for this, Animal Crossing has been pushed into the next fiscal year.

This story has been updated.