Nintendo: Hyrule Warriors’ Western Popularity Helped Boost Wii U Sales, Return to Profitability

Yesterday we reported that Koei Tecmo was pleased with Hyrule Warriors sales and that they exceed expectations outside of Japan, while they met expectations in Japan. At the time it seemed highly likely that the collective sales for the title had exceeded 500,000 units, but Koei Tecmo wasn’t 100% sure what the sales were in North America. Nintendo self published the game in that territory, so it’s on them to share any sort of sales data. Today Nintendo released it’s financial report and while it doesn’t give us any figures for Hyrule Warriors, it does say that it was fairly popular in the Western market, suggesting it may have done better than Nintendo thought it would.

This is stated in a way to suggest that Hyrule Warriors, in combination with Mario Kart 8, were the two biggest reasons that the Wii U was profitable during Q2, which helped contribute to a 14.3 billion yen net profit, putting Nintendo in the black for the year. This is great news for Nintendo heading into Q3, which generally caries a high amount of sales through the Holiday season. With Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Pokemon, and Toad’s Treasure trackers all arriving soon (plus the recently released Bayonneta 2), it’s easy to see how profits should be even higher moving forward.

This is, however, the first time Nintendo has commented publicly on Hyrule Warriors‘ sales. We patiently await some official figures, but we can rest easy knowing the game likely sold better than expected and helped contribute to the 1.12 million units the Wii U sold from April to September. The Wii U’s install base (sold to consumer, not to store) stands at 7.29 million. Nintendo is standing firm on their yearly predictions which have the Wii U selling 3.6 million units this fiscal year. That means they plan to move 2.48 million units in Q3 and Q4, putting the Wii U at just under 10 million units sold in a little over three years. If sales hold true, this could mean the console reaches GameCube numbers when it is all said and done. That works on the assumption that sales growth continues, but a strong 2015 lineup could certainly help with that.

For those curious about the 3DS side of things, they are still projecting 12 million units sold. This despite the fact that Q2’s 3DS hardware sales were less than half of what they were last year when the 3DS did sell 12 million (which was 6 million below their projections on the year). It’s fairly clear they won’t be hitting their targets this year as the 3DS sales do continue to nose dive. On the positive side, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS has sold 3.22 million units through September. If we combine future 3DS sales for the title with the Wii U versions sales, we might have the best selling version of the Smash to date, but that’s a big assumption currently and there will always be debate if the two games sales should be added together given their differences.

For those curious, this is actually higher overall profits than were predicted just yesterday. Either way, despite the 3DS doing worse than last year, the Wii U is doing better and has more than made up for the losses on the other side, leading to a net gain so far of close to 5 billion yen with more to come. The big takeaways from this (aka the short versions):

• Hyrule Warriors sold relatively well in the west
• Wii U showed positive growth year on year and quarter on quarter
• 3DS sales are down from last year
• Smash 3DS sold 3.22 million units
• Nintendo is now, overall, profitable this year. This is really the first time in 3 years they could say that this soon (with 2 of the last 3 years being in the red, the other really close to the red).

Source: Nintendo Japan