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Image: leavelucktogames

Nintendo has today revealed its financial results for Q1 of the 2015 / 2016 year, with the three months reported representing a relatively quiet spell in terms of major software arrivals. With that said, the results bring profits, and notably Nintendo is sticking with its original projections for end-of-year success.

To begin with the key Q1 financial figures — covering 1st April 2015 to 30th June 2015 — we have a net income profit of 8,284 million yen, which amounts to around $70 million / £43 million / €60.6 million. The core business of making and selling products also brings an operating profit of 1,149 million Yen, which is around $9.3 million / £6 million / €8.4 million; these are tiny profits, but notably sales are reported as being 20.8% up on the equivalent three months last year. The sales of amiibo are cited as particularly strong, and the report says the following regarding the key products to come.

For Nintendo 3DS, Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer will be released in July for Japan, in September for the United States, and in October for Europe, while Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon will be released in September for Japan, by the end of this calendar year for the United States, and in early 2016 for Europe. Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash will be released globally by this fall and The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes will be released globally by the end of this calendar year. Furthermore, a number of key titles from third-party publishers are scheduled for release. With such activities, we aim to further expand the Nintendo 3DS business.

For Wii U, by maintaining the attention level of Splatoon, which enjoyed a good start, we will strive to further enhance the sales toward the year-end sales season. Yoshi's Woolly World (released in June for Europe) will be released in July for Japan and in October for the United States. Super Mario Maker will be released in September globally and titles such as Star Fox Zero and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash will be released sequentially. We also aim to maintain the performance of already-released titles with strong sales potential by introducing additional download content.

Meanwhile, for amiibo, we will continue to expand the product lineup. At the same time, we aim to stimulate demand for amiibo from owners of the original Nintendo 3DS hardware systems by releasing the Nintendo 3DS NFC Reader/Writer accessory (for Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS XL and Nintendo 2DS), which will be launched simultaneously with Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.

In addition, we expect to secure a new source of revenue from a gaming application for smart devices, which will be released by the end of this calendar year.

Financial targets for the full year — 1st April 2015 to 31st March 2016 — remain the same, with the goal of an operating profit of 50 billion Yen, around $419 million / £275 million / €368 million, and a net income profit of 35 billion Yen, roughly $293 million / £193 million / €258 million.

Moving on to hardware and software sales, Splatoon "contributed to vitalizing the Wii U platform", shifting 1.62 million units up to the end of June; a total of 4.55 million Wii U games were sold, giving Splatoon - amazingly - well over a third of all game sales for the system. In terms of the 3DS 7.92 million games were sold, with Fire Emblem Fates being a particularly big seller in Japan.

In terms of hardware sales, meanwhile, figures are modest but the yearly targets are the same - Q1 is often particularly quiet for sales. Figures are below, with the Wii U notably squeezing past 10 million lifetime sales.


Wii U

Hardware Sales (Q1) — 470,000 units
Hardware Sales (life to date) — 10.01 million units
Hardware Sales Projection (2015 to 2016) — 3.4 million units

3DS

Hardware Sales (Q1) — 1.01 million units
Hardware Sales (life to date) — 53.07 million units
Hardware Sales Projection (2015 to 2016) — 7.6 million units

Wii

Hardware Sales (Q1) — 40,000 units
Hardware Sales (life to date) — 101.56 million units
Hardware Sales Projection (2015 to 2016) — 100,000 units


A fairly successful quarter for Nintendo, even though various figures are modest. The company has maintained its targets for the year, and it's notable how vital Splatoon has been for Wii U sales. The most important results will come later in the year with Holiday sales, and once the company's first smart device game launches.

[source nintendo.co.jp]