Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
South Korea
Taiwan
Thailand
Vietnam
Germany
Hong Kong
USA
Switzerland
Singapore
United Kingdom
Despite the crisis year of 2020, Nintendo was still able to significantly increase its profits. The Japanese video game giant reported a record net profit of 3.6 billion USD for the period April – December. And for the second time in three months, Nintendo raised its profit forecast for the financial year ending in March and now expects a net profit of 3.8 billion USD.
The profits are mainly driven by strong sales of the popular Switch game console and gaming hits such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons. During the corona virus pandemic, consoles and games are in high demand as people increasingly look for entertainment at home. End-of-year Christmas sales also boosted sales. Nintendo sold more than 16 million Switch consoles during the nine-month period. Sales rose to 13.3 billion USD- an increase of 37.3% compared to the same period last year.
Until recently, the gaming giant expected to sell 24 million Switch consoles in the current financial year. However, to reflect the strong demand, Nintendo has now raised the forecast to 26.5 million.
Around 66 million Switch consoles have been sold worldwide since its release in March 2017. When also taking bundles with Switch Lite handheld into account, the number rises to 79 million. Switch is Nintendo’s second best-selling game console after the Wii, which has sold over 100 million units to date. For some time, there have been reports in the industry that a more powerful Switch model could be launched this year. Nintendo did not yet confirm this.
However, not everything is rosy for Nintendo due to the pandemic. The gaming giant was actually planning to open its new theme park attraction, Super Nintendo World, at Universal Studios Japan in February 2021. But the date has been pushed back as Covid-19 infections continue to rise in Japan and the state of emergency has been declared.
Global games market with record performance
In general, the Covid-19 pandemic has boosted the gaming industry. Nintendo rival Sony has also raised its net profit forecast for the financial year that runs until March 2021, by 37% to 7.6 billion USD. In November, Sony launched the next generation of its popular games console, PlayStation 5. More than 7.6 million devices are expected to be sold by the end of March.
Analysts expect demand for online and gaming entertainment to remain high despite the prospects of an imminent vaccination and the associated easing. Dutch market research firm Newzoo estimates in its November update to the Global Games Market Report that the global games market will grow by 19.6% to 174.9 billion USD in 2020. And the potential is immense: by 2021, the market is expected to reach 217.9 billion USD.
Yet Covid-19 had an influence on the development, but did not fundamentally change it. “Rather, it has accelerated trends,” says Tom Wijman, Market Lead – Games, at Newzoo. “Gaming has been a means for entertainment, escapism, and socializing and interacting with friends and family for many consumers.”
According to Newzoo, China and the US dominate the global games market, with both countries accounting for 49% of global sales.
