Nintendo witnesses sales decline due to ‘incredibly high bar’ set by Animal Crossing

Nintendo has seen net sales and profits drop due to the ‘incredibly high bar’ set by Animal Crossing: New Horizons. 

According to the company in its fiscal report for the three months ended June 30, 2021, net sales decreased by 9.9% to 322.6 billion yen ($2.9 billion), while profits declined by 12.9% to 92.7 billion yen ($845.6 million).

“Hardware and software sales in the first quarter of last fiscal year were substantially driven by the March 2020 release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so compared to then, hardware sales were down 21.7% and software sales were down 10.2% year-on-year,” the report noted.

Nintendo’s island life simulator took the gaming world by storm when launched at the end of March last year with fans of the series excited about embracing themselves in a paradise island and Tom Nook’s endless mortgage schemes.

On the brighter side for Nintendo, Q1 of 2021’s fiscal year saw sales get off to a strong start for Nintendo Switch with sales volume of Pokémon Snap – released in April – reaching 2.07m units. Moreover, Miitopia – released in May – sold 1.04m units and Mario Golf: Super Rush – released in June – posted sales of 1.34m units. 

Furthermore, titles released in the previous fiscal years also continued to sell well, contributing to maintaining the overall high level of software sales, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe selling 1.69m units (for cumulative sales of 37.08m units) and Animal Crossing: New Horizons selling 1.26m units (for cumulative sales of 33.89m). 

Hardware sales fell by 21.7% year-on-year to 4.45m units, meaning the Switch has now sold 89.04m units since launching in March 2017. Software sales also declined by 10.2% year-on-year to 45.29m units, bringing lifetime Switch software sales to 632.40m units. 

Shifting the attention to Ninendo’s digital sector, the company saw a 24.9% year-on-year decline in sales of downloadable software to 75.9 billon yen ($692.6 million). 

Looking ahead, Nintendo’s consolidated financial forecast remains unchanged and the company still expects full-year Switch sales to hit 25.5m units by March 31, 2022.