Nintendo has record profits in FY2021 – shifts 28.8m Switch units

Nintendo’s full year 2021 results are here and they are, predictably, huge. With both hardware and software sales soaring on the back of the pandemic to break some of the company’s all-time records.

Net sales were up by 34.4 per cent to ¥1,758.9bn (£11.59bn), while operating profits flew to ¥640.6bn (£4.22bn), it’s best ever performance, and up 81.8 per cent on FY2020. All measured April 1st to March 31st.

Nintendo remains a primarily console focused company, with ¥1,700bn coming from that segment, and only ¥57bn from mobile and IP-related income.

To that end, the company sold-in 28.83m Switch units over the last year, up 37.1 per cent on the previous period. Of those 20.32m were the core Nintendo Switch, which likely could have sold more if stock had been available at certain key points, while 8.51m units of the purely handheld Switch Lite were also sold.

In terms of software units, Nintendo shifted some 230.88m units of first party titles on cartridges. A figure that’s up 36.8 per cent year on year. While in terms of digital sales of its own full titles, as well as DLDC, Nintendo saw an increase to ¥344.1bn (£2.27bn) an increase of 68.5% year-on-year.

That discrepancy was reflected in the makeup of the company’s split in gross profits. As a percentage of a much bigger whole, hardware was largely unchanged, but first-party software dropped its share by 3.4 per cent, while digital sales were up 8.8 per cent. It’s a surprisingly modest shift in such a tumultuous period.

Nintendo accepts that it was an extraordinary year for the business, with the forecast for the current FY2022 being pegged at a nine per cent decline in overall sales. That said, it still plans to ship 25.5m Switch units and 190m software units over the period.