Nintendo has been struggling since its latest console (Wii U) hit the market back in 2012, but on Wednesday the company had a surprising announcement, they reported a profit for the first-quarter.
Nintendo Reports a 20% Increase in Revenue
In its report, Nintendo stated that revenues for the three months ending June 30th, yielded net sales of $727 million and an operating profit of $9.3 million. This is the company’s strongest first quarter since 2012.
Last year’s earnings report indicated that Nintendo posted a loss of around $80 million. Many analysts were predicting another loss this quarter for Nintendo, so the earnings reports is a surprise for many.
Nintendo Can Thank Strong Sales From Amiibo, The New Nintendo 3DS, and Splatoon
Amiibos, interactive figurines featuring popular Nintendo characters, were released on November 21, 2014, and while there was an immense demand for them, it wasn’t clear just how well they were doing. In a press release from May, Nintendo revealed that the company had shipped more than 10 million Amiibos.
Profit isn’t just isolated to Amiibo sales, however. Since its release back on October 2014, the New Nintendo 3DS has shipped 3.27 units worldwide, and the company’s newest release, the squid-based shooter Splatoon, has also sold 1.62 million units since it launched at the end of May.
The Wii U Surpasses 10 Million Units Sold and Nintendo Talks About the Future
The Wii U launched on November 18 2012 and Nintendo has announced that the console has finally surpassed 10 million sales. By comparison, the Wii has sold over 100 million units since it launched, and was sitting at roughly 50 million sales going into its third year on the shelf. To say it’s been a rough ride for the successor to the Wii is an understatement.
During the earnings call, a Nintendo spokeswoman said that the company had “no implications” for future management moves. There are currently two representative directors that are acting as interim heads of the company since Satoru Iwata’s recent passing. The spokeswoman also said that the company had no intentions of diverging from the path already set by Iwata.
Nintendo is currently working on their next-gen console, code-named NX, while also teaming up with Japanese mobile developer DeNA in order to create mobile games for smartphones.
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