Nintendo surges on Animal Crossing and Switch sales — but can the hits continue?
Miss the old Game Boy Advance... But Nintendo doesn't crush sales by getting nostalgic over an old console that flips closed like a mini laptop. Fun fact: Nintendo was founded as a playing card company back in 1889 — over a century later, the Japanese gaming giant still appears to be playing its cards right:
- Annual profit soared 41% from a year ago to $3.3B, Nintendo's biggest surge in nine years.
- Nintendo Switch sales jumped 34% compared to a year ago — it even recently sold out on several websites, despite the fact that it was released in 2017 (and is suffering production delays).
- Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons game became the fastest selling title ever on Switch. Apparently lots of people wish they were on some colorful, animal-filled, pandemic-free island somewhere.
Good software drives hardware surges.... The hit success of Animal Crossing drove demand for Nintendo's Switch, which has been out for almost four years. For Nintendo, content is key to spurring sales of its console hardware. And Nintendo hit a goldmine with Animal Crossing — people are so into it that they're hiring interior designers for their island decor.
TBD whether the creative hits will continue... The surge in Switch sales was driven largely by Animal Crossing's success, but Nintendo reportedly doesn't have many new games in its pipeline. Nintendo even said it's predicting a fall in software sales this year because game developers can't come to the office. And unlike the other game consoles (Playstation and Xbox), Nintendo designs most of its own games (85% of them).