Nintendo Financial Results Briefing FY 2018 Presentation

As usual, during its financial results briefing for the 2018 fiscal year-end, Nintendo addressed investors with a presentation. While nothing earth-shattering was announced, a few interesting tidbits did catch our attention.

The Nintendo Switch had a stellar first year, not only in hardware sales, but also software releases. Can you believe there are more than 600 games available for the system right now? According to Nintendo digital purchases for the last fiscal year totaled 60.8 billion yen (roughly $556 million).

The paid online service for the Nintendo Switch is still on track for a September 2018 rollout. According to Nintendo the service will expand the online functionality of Nintendo Switch and provide consumers with a richness of online features that allow them to continuously enjoy the console. Most interesting is that they mentioned that more information will be presented on their website in early May! That means as early as next week we should have more concrete details.

As of March 31, 2018 the Nintendo Switch has sold 17.79 million units. For the next fiscal year (April 1, 2018 through March 31, 2019) Nintendo has forecasted another 20 million to be sold. That’s an increase, which means they must have some pretty awesome games lined up for release this year or some crazy bundles or price cuts planned for the holiday season. Nintendo does make mention that the second year of a system’s life is crucial in the dedicated video game platform business. They point out that they will continue to deliver hit games throughout the year, but failed to announce any new titles or assign release dates to games we know are planned (Yoshi and Fire Emblem for example). A few of the games they focus on are Mario Tennis Aces, Super Smash Bros., and Splatoon 2, which continues to receive updates and host special live events to keep players engaged.

The Nintendo 3DS now has an install base of over 72 million systems with over 1000 titles to choose from. Nintendo will continue to support the handheld with new software this year and into 2019 and beyond. Nothing new was announced, but they did remind us of the games already in the works that were known about. We expect some new announcements at E3.

Nintendo’s smart device initiative is still doing well across a variety of titles. It appears that Fire Emblem Heroes remains the most profitable of the bunch, with users and sales increasing month over month. As reported earlier, Nintendo has signed an agreement with Cygames to develop a new action/RPG called Dragalia Lost. It will launch this summer in Japan. Mario Kart Tour is also in the works and will be released sometime before the end of March.

As has been the case for the past several years, Nintendo will not be hosting a live press conference at E3. Instead they will air a video presentation (Nintendo Direct) that will introduce the games that are planned for release during the year. The E3 booth will give attendees a chance to try out some of the new games, like Super Smash Brothers. The Splatoon 2 World Championship will take place during E3 at a different venue.

Check out the full presentation below:

Craig Majaski

Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.