Nintendo Financials: Pokemon Helps Massive Profit Increase

Meowth used Happy Hour.

By Wesley Copeland

Pokémon played a big role in Nintendo’s end of year profits, the company’s financial reports show.

According to Nintendo, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon have shifted a combined 14.6 million units since their launches last year, placing the titles ahead of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, Super Mario 3D Land, and Super Smash Bros. 3DS in terms of lifetime sales.

Here’s the current breakdown of top-selling software for Nintendo 3DS.

• Pokémon X / Pokémon Y - 16.06 million.
• Mario Kart 7 - 14.82 million.
• Pokémon Sun / Pokémon Moon - 14.69 million.
• Pokémon Omega Ruby / Pokémon Alpha Sapphire - 13.68 million.
• Super Mario 3D Land - 11.17 million.
• New Super Mario Bros. 2 - 11.09 million.
• Animal Crossing: New Leaf - 10.45 million.
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS - 8.59 million.

The strong start from Sun and Moon comes thanks to the success of the mobile title Pokémon GO.

“The release of the smart device application Pokémon GO led to increased sales of software in the Pokémon series released in the past and drove Nintendo 3DS family hardware sales growth, particularly outside of Japan,” says Nintendo.

Nintendo 3DS software rocketed to 46.78 million units for the year ending December 31, 2016. A 20 percent increase on a year-on-year basis.

Nintendo notes the other big 3DS release of last-year, Super Mario Maker, has passed the million-seller mark.

Unfortunately, the success seen by the 3DS is a stark contrast to that of the Wii U. Software on Wii U only shifted some 12.48 million units for the same period, a 45 percent decrease on a year-on-year basis. That said, Nintendo says Wii U hardware and software sales “conformed” to the company’s expectations, meaning a low turnout was expected.

Here’s a look at the top Wii U software by lifetime sales:

• Mario Kart 8 - 8.26 million.
• New Super Mario Bros. U - 5.62 million.
• Super Mario 3D World - 5.47 million.
• Nintendo Land - 5.16 million.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U - 5.16 million.
• Splatoon - 4.76 million.
• Super Mario Maker - 3.89 million.
• New Super Luigi U - 2.89 million.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD - 2.11 million.
• Mario Party 10 - 2.04 million.

Despite lower Wii U and amiibo sales, the sale of Nintendo’s majority share in the Seattle Mariners baseball team, as well as the runaway success that is Pokémon, led to Nintendo seeing a whopping 154 percent increase in profit – totaling 103 billion yen ($904 million).

Wesley Copeland is a freelance news writer who writes excellent bios. For more obvious statements and video game chat, you should probably follow him on Twitter.

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