Nintendo doesn't typically discuss the performance of its digital gaming sales or growth. That's perhaps due to Nintendo's continued focus on physical game sales or that digital content has only become a focus in recent years. Regardless, it was surprising when Nintendo commented on digital sales as part of its Q3 financial reporting recently. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa even went as far as to say that digital sales "grew enormously" over the holiday financial quarter.
Q3 for Nintendo ran between the months of October through December 31, so it was clearly an important month for the company due to Black Friday and Christmas shopping. Physical game sales and hardware weren't the only things that impressed in Q3, however. Digital sales also proved to be significant. Furukawa wasn't willing to share specific numbers, but he did attribute digital growth to two products. He mentioned both Animal Crossing: New Horizon's expansion and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Sora DLC.
Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC Success Highlights Digital Future for Nintendo
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC has always been incredibly popular, and not just because Super Smash Bros. Ultimate itself is so popular. The crossover DLC offered by Nintendo was unique, with each character announcement an event to itself among the community. The reveal of Sora was perhaps one of Nintendo's largest, due to the popularity of Kingdom Hearts in both Japan and the west. Sora launched in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on October 18, 2021, and likely sold well through the holiday season.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons' DLC, Happy Home Paradise, launched on November 5, 2021 and was likely significant to Nintendo's digital growth for a unique reason. While it's true that Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a popular game, even outselling Super Smash Bros. Ultimate by over 10 million copies, Nintendo capitalized on its success in a new way with Happy Home Paradise. The expansion was offered as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack subscription as well, which likely pushed some users to embrace the upgrade.
While Furukawa doesn't delve into the performance of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, the pricey subscription launched in October 2021 and clearly had the potential to significantly raise Nintendo's digital profits. That Furukawa praised Happy Home Paradise's performance was likely his way of also praising the Expansion Pack's subscription rate, even without specifically mentioning it.
Between Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's Sora DLC, and the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscriptions, it's easy to see why Furukawa described Nintendo's digital sales growth as "enormous" for Q3 2021. The Nintendo Switch itself also crossed 103 million units shipped in Q3, in no small part to its digital offerings. It's a brand-new, digital age for Nintendo.
Source: Reddit
