Nintendo: Super Mario movie success helps drive 50 per cent sales surge
Nintendo has smashed forecasts for its first quarter results as the ever-popular virtual icons Mario and Zelda continue to attract gamers.
The Japanese gaming company reported net sales of 461.34bn yen (£2.5bn) for the three months ended 30 June – a 50 per cent increase from the same period of 2022 and ahead of Refinitiv estimates of 395.40bn yen (£2.2bn).
Ordinary profit increased by 52.2 per cent year on year to 253.7bn yen (£1.4bn).
Nintendo said The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has gained over $1bn (£789) at the box office since April, boosted sales of Mario game titles such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Buyers also lapped up 18.5m copies of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game for Nintendo Switch, released in May.
Mario and Zelda success helped hardware unit sales rise almost 14 per cent year on year to 3.9m units, while software unit sales increased over 26 per cent to 52.21m units.
Nintendo said: “In the first quarter of this fiscal year, both sales and profits were notably large for a first quarter mainly due to the concurrent releases of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and we made steady progress toward our full-year earnings forecast.”
Last month, Nintendo’s online gaming subscription was crowned the “best value for money” as British gamers spent less on entertainment products due to the cost of living crisis.