Ahri's unqualified thoughts #58

Easy to consume content: 1 quote, 1 tweet/storm and 1 article/video.

In this edition, we're featuring a Nintendo exclusive. We'll start with a tweet from my friend Jon, highlighting the crazy success of the Zelda franchise on the Switch platform. Following that, we've got an insightful article from Bloomberg detailing Nintendo's financial forecasts, and some analysts’ take on it.

Plus, as a bonus, since I’m feeling generous, I'll include an extra Twitter thread discussing Nintendo's quarterly financial results, to support the article.

1 quote

“History is a set of lies agreed upon”. Napoléon Bonaparte

1 tweet/storm

Ok, the color choice is terrible… but 'Zelda: Breath of the Wild' and 'Tears of the Kingdom' have achieved incredible sales, surpassing 50 million units combined. This figure is even more striking when compared to the other 17 games in the Zelda series, which together have sold 64 million units. The success is extraordinary.

As per the latest IR release from Nintendo, Tears of the Kingdom has sold an impressive 19.5 million copies within seven months of its release, catapulting it into the top 10 best-selling titles for the Switch console of all time.

1 article/video

As per the article:

The Kyoto-based entertainment company said it now expects operating income of ¥500 billion ($3.3 billion), up from ¥450 billion previously. It based its new guidance on a weaker yen value than previously, though it fell short of average analyst expectations of ¥529 billion. The company also said it expects to sell 5 million more copies of games, raising its forecast to 185 million.

Nintendo reported operating profit of ¥94.5 billion and revenue of ¥334.9 billion in the September quarter, both beating analyst expectations. The yen’s weakness helped the earnings, the bulk of which comes from overseas.

While the CEO of Nintendo declined to discuss a potential successor to the Switch, it's important to consider the amount of credible rumors surrounding a new console, particularly given that the OG Switch was released in 2017.

The Switch's current hardware and software figures are remarkably strong for a console of its age, which is purportedly in its final year on the market. Its success can be attributed not only to an impressive game lineup but also to various other Nintendo endeavors, including the highly acclaimed Super Mario movie.

As a reminder, some of their exclusives released on this fiscal year (Starting April 23):

And to give you a bit more details on Nintendo’s numbers, the excellent Oscar Lemaire, a French journalist did a wonderful thread detailing all of that:

I invite you to read the entire thread, here are some highlights:

• Nintendo sold 6.84m Switch consoles in the semester (+2% vs same semester 2022); and 2.93m units in the last trimester (-10% vs 2022)

• Switch sold 132.46m since its 2017 launch

• Nintendo Revenues: 4.99b € (+21% S-on-S)

• Record profits on the semester:

  • Operating profit: 1.76b € (+27%)

  • Net profit: 1.70b € (+18%)

• Fun fact: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 3.22m copies last 6 months, which puts it at 57m units total (65.5m with the Wii U sku).