Nintendo Sees Record-Breaking First Quarter Profit

Nintendo‘s notable year, bolstered by the success of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, has paid off, exemplified in the results from the gaming giant’s first-quarter financial report. Operating profit during the company’s first quarter reached ¥185.4 billion ($1.3 billion USD) – a jump of 82% from this same period last year.

The two contributing factors to Nintendo’s staggering first quarter are the widespread success of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom game, which has now sold 18.51 million units since its debut this May, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which since its release in April, has since garnered over $1.3 billion USD at worldwide box offices. Nintendo’s previous quarter one record was reached back in 2020, when the company hit a ¥144.7 billion operating profit.

Nintendo’s total revenue from the first quarter adds up to ¥461.34 billion ($3.2 billion USD), shattering the anticipated total revenue value of ¥395.40 billion. This quarter’s net operating profit was only expected to reach ¥109.91 billion.

This year’s surge in Switch stats – having sold 3.91 million units, up from last year’s first quarter sales of 3.43 million units – is a testament to the success of the console’s games, with an additional Zelda game (Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) as well as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe both seeing triumphant launches this year.

Elsewhere in tech, Instagram is testing out labels for AI-generated posts on the platform.