Tag team: Mario and Zelda propel Nintendo to stellar quarter

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In brief: Nintendo is riding high following two blockbuster releases in the most recent quarter. For the three-month period ending June 30, the Japanese gaming giant reported total revenue of 461.3 billion yen, or roughly $3.2 billion. That’s an increase of 50.1 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. Net profit reached $1.3 billion – up 52.1 percent year over year.

Nintendo’s strong showing was buoyed by the launch of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in early April and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom a month later. The animated Mario flick didn’t do much for critics and was widely shared on social media, but neither fact did much to hurt its performance.

According to Nintendo, the movie has been seen by more than 168 million viewers (per Universal Pictures, as of July 30) and has generated $1.35 billion worldwide at the box office (per IMDb, as of July 26). It is now the highest-grossing film ever based on a video game, the third highest-grossing animated film ever, and the 15th highest grossing movie of any kind.

Sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and other Mario-related titles also benefited from the movie’s release. Nintendo said it sold 1.67 million copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe thanks to promotional tie-ins with the flick.

Tears of the Kingdom, meanwhile, dropped on May 12 and has already sold 18.51 million units. Nintendo said the game also helped to boost Switch hardware sales during the quarter. Overall hardware sales increased 13.9 percent in the quarter compared to the same period a year ago, with the Switch OLED model leading the way.

In total, Nintendo sold 3.91 million Switch units in the quarter, pushing lifetime sales of the hybrid console to 129.53 million.

Nintendo still has plenty in store for the holiday season and beyond. Back in June, the company announced a remake of Super Mario RPG and a brand new 2D sidescroller called Super Mario Bros. Wonder, both due out later this year. A new IP based on Princess Peach is also in the early stages of development, we’re told.

Image credit: Pixabay

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