Mario collects coins in games and his parent company Nintendo amasses a real fortune. In the looming post-Covid economic slump, some companies are showing insolent health. This is the case of the Japanese video game group presented which presented its results for the second quarter of 2020 on Thursday. And the least we can say is that the multiple confinements around the world have benefited Nintendo: whole days locked up at home means more time to play the console. Result, a turnover of 2.8 billion euros for the period April-June, double compared to the same period last year.
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All the accounts for the second quarter are in the green for Nintendo, starting with the net profit, multiplied by six, to 850 million euros. "Demand for video games has remained strong among people confined" because of the pandemic, commented analyst Hideki Yasuda, of the Ace Research Institute in Tokyo, interviewed by AFP. And this is reflected in particular in sales at the highest level of Nintendo Switch, Nintendo's flagship console. Five million were sold in three months, to such an extent that stockouts were noted in the spring. In total, since its launch three years ago, the Switch has sold 61 million units.
Huge box for Animal Crossing
And then there are the games: 50.43 million sold in a quarter, on the Switch alone, twice as many as a year ago. Nintendo has been well helped by the huge success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons . Released in March, it alone accounted for 21% of the group's total game sales volume between April and June. Unexpected card of the year, this cute life simulator where you have to create an idyllic community on a desert island, has attracted 22 million players in four months.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is already the second most popular game in Switch history, ahead of behemoths like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (20 million) and Zelda: Breath of the Wild (18.6 million), however released in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Only the timeless Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is ahead with 26.7 million games sold. Released in 2017, it is still regularly in the top 5 of the best weekly sales in France.
Nintendo is riding the boom in dematerialized games
Last lesson of Nintendo's amazing quarter: more than half (55.6%) of game sales are now dematerialized, against 22.3% six months ago. An even juicier format since the editor's margin is greater than on the good old boxes.
If Nintendo has remained cautious about its annual results, the boom in global sales in the video game sector "should continue", according to analyst Hideki Yasuda. Note that Nintendo's great rival, Sony, posted a quarterly net profit on Tuesday up more than 50% over one year. There also very good figures, while the Playstation 5 is expected at the end of the year.