Nintendo’s 1st quarter results for its fiscal year ending March 2021 have revealed some impressive details, including that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold over 22 million copies, that the Switch has sold over 61 million units, and that Nintendo’s net profits year-on-year have grown by over 500%.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, at 22.4 million units sold, has become the second-best selling Nintendo Switch game behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s 26.74 million. It has surpassed both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which have sold 19.99 million and 18.60 million units, respectively.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was so popular from April to June 2020 that it was played on over 50% of all Nintendo Switch systems sold during that period, on the first day of purchase. Furthermore, Animal Crossing: New Horizons accounted for over 40% of overall sell-through for Nintendo titles in Japan, the US, and Europe for that same time.
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Speaking of software, Nintendo also had two new million-sellers released this quarter with Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition and Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics selling 1.32 million units and 1.03 million units, respectively.
Ring Fit Adventure, which had a product shortage issue from beginning in March, has sold over 4 million copies globally. This was reflected in July 2020’s NPD report that saw Ring Fit Adventure jump from #835 to #7 on the best-selling list for the month as stock increased.
Another interesting note is that digital sales accounted for 55.6% of total software sales on Nintendo’s dedicated video game platforms.
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The success of the Switch’s software was mirrored by the console itself, which has now sold 61.44 million units, putting it only slightly behind the NES’ 61.91 million units sold.
In this quarter, 3.05 million Nintendo Switch systems were sold and 2.62 Nintendo Switch Lite systems were sold. This totals to 5.68 million Switch consoles sold in that time frame, which is a 166% increase year-on-year.
Good news for those still looking to purchase a Switch, Nintendo has confirmed that, although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a lack of supply of Nintendo Switch consoles, the situation has “almost recovered.”
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Lastly, Nintendo’s mobile and IP-related income reach 13.2 billion yen (~$125.16 million USD), which is a 32.7% increase year-on-year.
All of these highlights tell the story of Nintendo’s net profit reaching 106.4 billion yen (~$1.008 billion USD), a 576.2% increase year-on-year from FY20/Q1’s 16.6 billion yen (~$157.37 million USD).
As for what the future holds for Nintendo, we don’t know too much of its plans besides some undated games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4, and the recently announced Pikmin 3 Deluxe, which will be released on October 30, 2020.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
Source: IGN.com Animal Crossing: New Horizons Sales Reach 22 Million