Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda have been major successes for Nintendo for decades. 2023 has seen these two franchises returning to the spotlight with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Both have been major successes, leading to unprecedented financial wins for Nintendo in the first half of 2023.
Nintendo recently released its earnings for the second quarter of 2023, which covers the month of April, May, and June. Total net sales for the quarter were 461.3 billion yen – approximately $3.2 billion USD. Operating profit was 185.4 billion yen, or $1.3 billion USD. According to financial news source Bloomberg, this represents a 50% increase when compared to the same quarter in 2022. This also breaks previous first-quarter records set in 2020, when the early-pandemic release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a major hit for Nintendo.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, a sequel to previous open-world Zelda title Breath of the Wild, sold approximately 18.51 million units over the past quarter. Just a few months after the game’s release, it has already become one of the top ten best-selling Nintendo Switch games of all time. This list is topped by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and also includes Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Breath of the Wild, Pokemon Sword and Shield, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
Meanwhile, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which stars Chris Pratt as the titular character, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser, has earned over $1 billion USD at the box office. Nintendo stated that the film’s success also led to an increase in sales for several Mario games, including Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Party, and the aforementioned Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Nintendo also reported that the Switch and Switch OLED Model continued to sell well, shipping approximately 3 million combined units during the quarter. Other games that sold well during the quarter were Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Fire Emblem Engage, and Breath of the Wild, which saw a resurgence in sales due to Tears’ release. The company ended their quarterly report by predicting that 2023 will continue to be a successful year. Upcoming releases Nintendo predicts to do well include the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, Detective Pikachu Returns, and the highly anticipated remake of Super Mario RPG.
