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Switch profits higher then rest of nintendos whole history COMBINED

Astral Dog

Member
And i believe its well deserved, the Switch is peak Nintendo as a concept,as a platform for first and third party developers and an example of leadership after the hardships of their previous generation

It has flaws and areas that can be improved, but they have all the goodwill to create something even greater in the future
 

midnightAI

Member

Fine, I'll repeat myself...
getting that accurate figure would be a nightmare, you'd have to look at each year individually, look at every single country that had sales and then look at the inflation rate for that year for each country and then look at the exchange rates that year to convert everything to inflation adjusted yen.
For example:
Japan: 100yen in 1981 adjusted for inflation is 148yen now, so 1.48x
UK: £100 in 1981 adjusted for inflation is £480 now, so 4.8x

Basically, not as simple as just using the Japanese inflation only.
 
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Woopah

Member
Maybe they should reinvest it or reduce prices on their games. What good are profits if they just sit in the bank?
Having cash is still useful, but you're right that investing is also important.

That's why Nintendo announced a 450 billion yen ($3.95 billion) cash utilisation plan in 2021.

They've increased that figure since then, but we don't know what to.
I thought 2013 was a big loss for Nintendo, hence all the "year of Luigi" memes, but this shows it was a small profit year and 2014 lost a little?
Depends on the metric. In 2013 they had an operating loss but a net profit .
 
Having cash is still useful, but you're right that investing is also important.

That's why Nintendo announced a 450 billion yen ($3.95 billion) cash utilisation plan in 2021.

They've increased that figure since then, but we don't know what to.

Depends on the metric. In 2013 they had an operating loss but a net profit .
They had operating losses for three years in a row during the beginning of 3DS/ early period of Wii U in FYs 2012-2014. Iwata and the senior directors all took pay cuts to help show they were interested in turning things around, while in the background they secretly & diligently worked on what would eventually become the Switch.
 
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Kilau

Gold Member
Having cash is still useful, but you're right that investing is also important.

That's why Nintendo announced a 450 billion yen ($3.95 billion) cash utilisation plan in 2021.

They've increased that figure since then, but we don't know what to.

Depends on the metric. In 2013 they had an operating loss but a net profit .

Ok, I think I'm just confused by the terminology, thanks.
 

Woopah

Member
They had operating losses for three years in a row during the beginning of 3DS/ early period of Wii U in FYs 2012-2014. Iwata and the senior directors all took pay cuts to help show they were interested in turning things around, while in the background they secretly & diligently worked on what would eventually become the Switch.
The mid 2010s were certainly a rough time for them financially. They are much better now.
 

Pejo

Gold Member
I like to attribute at least a small part of that success to them not being *modern Flavor of the Month* trend chasers and still just doing their own stuff at their own pace. Lots of different experiences, a variety of genres and themes, and being surprisingly open to 3rd party software.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Switch successor.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
The Office Congrats GIF
 
Just got my switch going again to play Mario RPG and it's still a little beast of a machine IMO. Sure, a new Switch would be nice, but other than improved gwaphics, I dunno what else to expect... in terms of games and gameplay, Switch still hits all the right notes.
 
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StereoVsn

Member
Just got my switch going again to play Mario RPG and it's still a little beast of a machine IMO. Sure, a new Switch would be nice, but other than improved gwaphics, I dunno what else to expect... in terms of games and gameplay, Switch still hits all the right notes.
Main thing for me would be improved res and frame rates in handheld. Some of their own games are abysmal like the Xeno series (especially 2).
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
I guess that was a smart move given the results, but still, I think it's a pity since we've lost so much along the way. The Mario & Luigi's, the 2D Zeldas, the Etrian Odysseys, etc.
Uh, M&L games stopped being produced because they didn't sell, and 2D Zelda is still being done as much as in 3DS
 
It seems like if ppl hope they make a new switch. Aka the switch 2. The problem tho. They may be confused what they want to do. Cause they don’t want another Wii U. It was pretty much a Wii 2. And it didn’t do nothing. Who knows. Could be a new switch or they could try and do something completely different all of a sudden. But I do believe it be a switch 2.
 

DaGwaphics

Member
This is a name I vaguely remember seeing in the game shop at some point. I guess they do ok.

Seriously though, congrats to them. And aside from the predatory pricing on hardware and games, they've done it without changing themselves drastically or trying to become a virtual casino.
 
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Celine

Member
Reminder that Nintendo is the most profitable console maker in history:
ZFXh0Ic.jpeg

SIE 24/3 is their OI forecast. In a few days we will know the actual result.
 
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I wish Nintendo would have used some of these profits to sure up developmental studios or considered acquiring a few studios.

Even ones they already work with like Intelligent Systems. But if they could have swung a deal for Toys For Bob or other American or European studios, this would have been best possible outcome. Or even looked at Aquired Corp. The studio that made Octopath 1 & 2. Since it s recently acquired buy From Software.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Not surprised. The console is still selling. My 6 year old nephew just got one for his birthday (His first console 😁).

Considering the Switch 2 isn't coming out until Q1 2025, Nintendo will have one last decent holiday with the current Switch.
 

Robb

Gold Member
Oh, i guess princess peach....
And Another Code, Endless Ocean and Mario Vs. Donkey Kong I think. With Paper Mario coming this month and Luigi’s Mansion next month.

The rest of the year should be covered by the summer Nintendo Direct.
 

Robb

Gold Member
I don’t know man. One game a month for the entire first half of the year is pretty impressive output. Especially this late in the game. I remember Wii being an absolute desert in its final days.

I’m personally only getting Paper Mario though.
 
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That’s pretty wild, but I guess it’s not that surprising. The Switch is awesome. I wonder if it’ll end up overtaking the PS2 in sales.

Unit sales? They'll need at least this year and next year to make that happen.

Using Japanese inflation rates, sure, except the inflation rates around the world are different, the UK for example, £100 in 1981 is £480 now.

It's nowhere near as simple as he's making it out to be.

And like I said, it's still impressive

It's especially still impressive because the Yen has had slower inflation than the Dollar over the years, so even you adjust for inflation, Switch era profits still beat out pre-Switch profits.

So that's actually rather insane considering Nintendo consolidated two product lines into one and unit sales for Switch aren't anywhere near Wii + DS combined, for example.



For 2023 alone their net profits were between $3 billion - $3.165 billion in USD. Off of ~ $15 billion revenue (IIRC), that's a 20% margin. Very good.

I'm actually surprised with the net loss in 2014 though; 2012 I understand because of Wii hard drop-off, 3DS slow sales start (Nintendo had to cut the price, losing money on units for a while), and then the spectacular launch and destruction of Wii U in the span of a single month.

What contributed to the 2014 net losses though?

I like to attribute at least a small part of that success to them not being *modern Flavor of the Month* trend chasers and still just doing their own stuff at their own pace. Lots of different experiences, a variety of genres and themes, and being surprisingly open to 3rd party software.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Switch successor.

This is absolutely a part of their success. They aren't being driven by greedy shareholders who want them to chase market trends to obtain "infinite growth" (which is impossible). Even in difficult transition periods like the 5th gen, Nintendo had a brand identity and corporate philosophy they put their faith in, while differentiating themselves within the market. They smartly diversified their offerings while still keeping them related enough to their main market to push synergies.

Xbox got completely overran by suits and bean counters to chase market trends in OTHER markets as if thinking they'd magically translate to gaming, and now the console brand has paid the price for it. The only thing that will save Microsoft Gaming as a platform are their Zenimax & ABK acquisitions. going fully 3P, and making Xbox devices PC-like gaming systems.

And SIE? Well, they've had to pay some sort of price for the overzealous GAAS trend they were chasing a few years ago. Their in-gaming synergies have mostly involved multiplat porting to increasingly competitive platforms like PC/Steam which are causing ever-growing value degradation to their own console. Their other synergies are mainly coming from transmedia adaptations in film, TV etc. but while these efforts are gaming-related to a point, they are not specifically gaming-orientated as in being new games for the console. In some cases, they don't even result in a new companion game. The Twisted Metal TV show for example, was supposed to get a new game alongside it but that game got cancelled.

Overall SIE haven't been as bad as Microsoft in chasing non-gaming market trends to brute-translate to gaming for a big fail. But clearly, they have their own issues all the same and don't have a fully solid focus on gaming the way Nintendo does.
 
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Woopah

Member
I wish Nintendo would have used some of these profits to sure up developmental studios or considered acquiring a few studios.

Even ones they already work with like Intelligent Systems. But if they could have swung a deal for Toys For Bob or other American or European studios, this would have been best possible outcome. Or even looked at Aquired Corp. The studio that made Octopath 1 & 2. Since it s recently acquired buy From Software.
They are, they acquired Next Level Games in 2021 and Systems Research & Development in 2022.

On top of that they bought some new land and originally planned to build a new 12 story building to house an expansion of EPD. But as the last couple of years has been so profitable, they have now said that building will have more than 13 floors.
This means nothing for me as a consumer, have they even released a game this year?

Oh, i guess princess peach....
7 games have been announced/released for 2024 so far, but they are pretty much all "filler". Their lineup pales in comparison to 2023 and 2022.

In June we will find out if the whole year is filler, or just the first half.
 

Woopah

Member
Unit sales? They'll need at least this year and next year to make that happen.



It's especially still impressive because the Yen has had slower inflation than the Dollar over the years, so even you adjust for inflation, Switch era profits still beat out pre-Switch profits.

So that's actually rather insane considering Nintendo consolidated two product lines into one and unit sales for Switch aren't anywhere near Wii + DS combined, for example.



For 2023 alone their net profits were between $3 billion - $3.165 billion in USD. Off of ~ $15 billion revenue (IIRC), that's a 20% margin. Very good.

I'm actually surprised with the net loss in 2014 though; 2012 I understand because of Wii hard drop-off, 3DS slow sales start (Nintendo had to cut the price, losing money on units for a while), and then the spectacular launch and destruction of Wii U in the span of a single month.

What contributed to the 2014 net losses though?
2014 saw 3DS sales declining and Wii U comtuing to be dead.
 

midnightAI

Member
It's especially still impressive because the Yen has had slower inflation than the Dollar over the years, so even you adjust for inflation, Switch era profits still beat out pre-Switch profits.

So that's actually rather insane considering Nintendo consolidated two product lines into one and unit sales for Switch aren't anywhere near Wii + DS combined, for example.
Well no, they don't, that's my point, inflation in other countries, not Japan, Japan inflation is a lot smaller than lots of the world. As I said, if you adjust for the UK market in 1981 you can't just multiply by 1.48 which is the Japanese inflation, you'd have to multiply by 4.8, that's a rather large difference. The chart he shows is only using Japanese inflation, which is low, it is not using inflation on a country by country basis.
 

Woopah

Member
Well no, they don't, that's my point, inflation in other countries, not Japan, Japan inflation is a lot smaller than lots of the world. As I said, if you adjust for the UK market in 1981 you can't just multiply by 1.48 which is the Japanese inflation, you'd have to multiply by 4.8, that's a rather large difference. The chart he shows is only using Japanese inflation, which is low, it is not using inflation on a country by country basis.
Would it matter what the other currencies are, when Nintendo's profits are always reported in yen?

Their profit is not calculated by taking a profit from every country and adding them together. I don't think adjusting a profit in different countries makes sense. That's not the way people calculate for inflation (at least, not from what I've seen).
 
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2014 saw 3DS sales declining and Wii U comtuing to be dead.

Yeah but to cause net losses? I'm guessing Nintendo were over-producing supply despite demand dropping, or demand drops came out of left-field for Nintendo even during 2014.

For Wii U drop in demand should've been a known thing and they'd of adjusted production capacity to match it. So I guess it was the 3DS drop that caught them off-guard. Understandable.

Well no, they don't, that's my point, inflation in other countries, not Japan, Japan inflation is a lot smaller than lots of the world. As I said, if you adjust for the UK market in 1981 you can't just multiply by 1.48 which is the Japanese inflation, you'd have to multiply by 4.8, that's a rather large difference. The chart he shows is only using Japanese inflation, which is low, it is not using inflation on a country by country basis.

👇

Would it matter what the other currencies are, when Nintendo's profits are always reported in yen?

Their profit is not calculated by taking a profit from every country and adding them together. I don't think adjusting a profit in different countries makes sense. That's not the way people calculate for inflation (at least, not from what I've seen).
 

KXVXII9X

Member
It was well earned. It was my dream console since I played the Gameboy. It does have its shares of flaws but also a lot of highs. It reminded me what is important in gaming. I hope their next console does well.
 

Woopah

Member
Yeah but to cause net losses? I'm guessing Nintendo were over-producing supply despite demand dropping, or demand drops came out of left-field for Nintendo even during 2014.

For Wii U drop in demand should've been a known thing and they'd of adjusted production capacity to match it. So I guess it was the 3DS drop that caught them off-guard. Understandable.
It wasnt so much that they were spending too much on manufacturering.

It was more that they have thousands of staff to pay, and the Wii U simply wasn't bringing in enough revenue to cover those salaries.
 
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