By Yuri Kageyama, Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) --Nintendo reported a 52% increase in net profit for the first fiscal quarter on Thursday following the success of its Super Mario movie and the new Zelda video game.
Demand was strong for Nintendo Switch game software, which received a boost from the release earlier this year of the film about the jumping plumber called "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," according to Nintendo Co.
The film has so far drawn more than 168 million people globally, grossing $1.3 billion.
That makes it one of the top-selling animation films on record, second only to "Frozen II," and the top animation film based on a video game. The "Lion King" 2019 remake, while it uses computer graphics and was an even a bigger hit, isn't categorized as an animation film.
Also helping lift Nintendo's results was the popularity of "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom" game, released in May, the latest in the hit action-adventure series.
The Japanese video game maker's April-June net profit totaled 181 billion yen ($1.3 billion), up from nearly 119 billion yen a year ago. Quarterly sales surged 50% to 461.3 billion yen ($3.2 billion).
Hardware sales jumped nearly 14% to 3.9 million Nintendo Switch machines, while software sales also grew, increasing 26% to 52 million games sold.
Nintendo also got a healthy boost in revenue from its intellectual property business, exemplified by the Super Mario film but also other royalties.
Nintendo has been pushing the idea of having several Nintendo Switch consoles per household, not just one, with family members each working a machine to play together.
Among the popular games for such playing was "Pikmin 4," which went on sale last month. That also came in a downloadable version, an area that's a growing source of income for Nintendo.
Nintendo, based in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto, is planning more games in coming months including "Super Mario Bros. Wonder," set to go on sale in October.
Nintendo kept its full year profit forecast unchanged at a 340 billion yen ($2.4 billion), down 21% on year.
Avid completes acquisition of Wolftech
Avid®, known for software solutions for professional media production, has completed the acquisition of Wolftech Broadcast Solutions, a leader in cloud-based multiplatform news planning, production and publishing solutions.
The acquisition enables Avid to combine its digital-first, end-to-end media solution with Wolftech’s expertise in story-centric workflow management. News organizations will be able to increase efficiency and accelerate story delivery through enhanced remote collaboration and multiplatform amplification.
Avid CEO Wellford Dillard stated, “Wolftech is unquestionably on the leading edge of where the industry is going, and this acquisition demonstrates Avid’s commitment to transform news, sports, and live production workflows. We are delighted to welcome Wolftech into the Avid family.”
Wolftech CEO Arne Berven added, “We were focused on finding a partner that could accelerate the adoption of our platform globally. We explored a number of possibilities, but when we talked to Avid, we knew it was the right match.”
The closing of the acquisition follows Avid’s announcement on October 7 that the company had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wolftech.
With this acquisition, Avid deepens the integration between the two toolsets while continuing to embrace an open approach in partnering with a wide range of media production tools and newsroom systems. Existing Wolftech customers will benefit from Avid’s global scale for customer support and professional services.
Ian Axton, head of production operations for ITV News, said, “As a customer of both Avid and Wolftech we’re excited about the benefits this acquisition will bring to our users and our business. Wolftech has transformed... Read More