Nintendo Sales Soar Thanks To Switch Consoles And Games

Nintendo has detailed its financial performance for the three month period April 1 to June 30, 2017, and reported a significant increase in sales when compared to the same period in 2016. Nintendo cited sales as $1.3 billion, which is a 148% increase over 2016's $553 million.

Operating profit was also shown to be an improvement over 2016's, reaching $144 million, compared to $45 million last year. In a statement released alongside the financial report, Nintendo confirmed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched in April, has sold 3.5 million units worldwide.

Arms, which launched in April and has only been on sale for around two months, was described as being "off to a good start with 1.18 million units sold globally." The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released in March (the previous financial quarter) and "continued to perform well, selling 1.16 million units." Cumulative sales of the game have reached 3.92 million units.

Nintendo has not clarified whether the The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sales mentioned above are just for Switch, or if they also include sales of the Wii U version.

In total, the Nintendo Switch hardware sold 1.97 million units for this three month period, while software sales were at 8.14 million units. You can read further analysis of Nintendo Switch sales here.

Nintendo 3DS title Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia was highlighted as being "popular" in Japan and overseas, but specific sales numbers for the game were not provided. The Nintendo 3DS hardware, meanwhile, was 950,000 units, representing a 1% increase over the same period in 2016. 3DS software sales were 5.85 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 31%.

Nintendo launched mobile titles Super Mario Run and Fire Emblem Heroes in its previous financial year and noted that "smart device and IP related income was around $80 million, which it says is a 450% year on year increase.

Looking ahead, Nintendo highlighted Splatoon 2, which is out now, and Super Mario Odyssey, which launches in October, as two of its key titles. The New Nintendo 2DS XL was also mentioned, alongside the releases of Pokemon Ultra Sun/Moon and Hey! Pikmin for that platform.

Of course, the eagerly-anticipated launch of the Super NES Classic Edition was also factored into its future performance, alongside "new [mobile] game applications and continued operations" of existing ones.