Not true.
1. Nintendo reports the total units of software sold (including digital only softwre) both when reporting total (physical+digital) game units sold and digital game revenue (included with other things like the sub). It's only when reporting digital software units when they don't include digital only software.
2. Nintendo obviously also reports 3rd party games revenue in their platform. Like Sony or any other public company they are forced to report all their revenue sources. Notice their digital sales slide included below, they mention in the note that 3rd party are included, specifying that from 3rd party games there's a cut for Nintendo and a cut for the publisher (like in PS, Xbox and any other game platform/store). Notice also that in the slide about the Switch sales status Nintendo mentions only 3 third party games sold over a million copies during FY25 Q1+Q2.
The related direct comparisions for the most recent reported quarter of July-September (Q2) that we can make from their fiscal reports are:
- Total game units sold (phisical & digital, 1st & 3rd):
- PS 77.7M
- Nintendo 39.64M (for digital games only counts those also available physically)
- Total digital game revenue: digital game sales (1st + 3rd, available or not physically for Nintendo too)+addons+subscription:
- PS 258,619M + 300,405M + 160,779M = 719.80B yen
- Nintendo 34.5B + 44.6B yen = 79.1B yen
- Percentage of total (digital + physical) game units sold for their consoles that are 1st party:
- Percentage of total (digital + physical, 1st + 3rd) game units sold that are digital:
(By 'sold' I mean sell-in, meaning sold to their partners/retailers in most cases when physical or directly to consumers when digital).
Thes are the receipts, from Sony:
- Sales breakdown splits their game revenue in PS physical games sold (1st+3rd, 34,301M yen), PS digital games sold (1st+3rd, 258,619M yen), PS digital add-ons (1st+3rd, 300,405M yen), Sony games outside PS (1st, 19,014M yen). Network services revenue (PS+) 160,779M yen.
- Software units sales shows the amount of games sold in PS and shows the portion of them that were 1st party (5.3M out of 77.7M, 6.82%), and the percentage of them that were digital (70%)
https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/24q2_supplement.pdf
Receipts for Nintendo consoles, for this Q2 (notice sometimes they only report Q2 and sometimes Q1+Q2, I isolated Q2 where needed):
- Nintendo highlights that only 3 third party games sold over 1M copies during Q1+Q2 on Switch
- Digital game sales revenue of games also available in physical (1st+3rd, 34.5B yen)
- Revenue from digital games only+digital addons+subscription (1st+3rd, 44.6B yen)
- Percentage of total game sales that are 1st party: 66.3%
- Percentage of total game sales that are digital (1st+3rd): 53.9%
- FY25 Q1+Q2 total game units sold (games that available both physical and digital, doesn't sofware only available digitally) 70.28M. If we substract from there the Q1 number reported the previous quarter (30.64M), we know Q2 was 39.64M
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2024/241105_5e.pdf
Since this slide posted above is Q1+Q2 (70.28M), we need to subtract the same slide from Q1 (30.64M), to know that Q2 was 70.28M-30.64M=39.64M:
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2024/241105_5e.pdf
1. Digital-only games are included in Nintendo's revenue, but they are not included in their total unit sales.
Look at the images you included about Sales Units and Sales Units Forecast. It says in the notes that:
"Software sales units include both packaged and downloaded versions of software, and
do not include download-only software or add on content."
So that 70.28 million units of software sold doesn't include download-only games, like I said.
2. Nintendo's revenue includes their royalties from third party digital software, but it doesn't include the third party's share. Sony's does.
Again, look at that image you shared of the slide on digital sales. The note says:
"When calculating digital sales, sales of Nintendo software are recognized as
gross sales, while sales of software released by other software publishers are recognized as
net sales."
This is different from what Sony does. The proof isn't in your images, but is in the link you shared for G&NS
The number 2 next to physical software means:
"Physical Software is
revenue from first party game software for PlayStation® consoles sold on discs to retailers,
royalties from third party
software sold on discs.
So same as Nintendo. For third parties, only royalties are included. But the 3 next to digital means:
"Digital Software is revenue from full game downloads of
both first and third party titles sold via the PlayStation™Store"
So it's total third party revenue, not just royalties.
I really appreciate you sharing all the images and links, but those are the exact sources that support my arguments
And to clarify, yes I agree that Sony sold way more software and made way for revenue than Nintendo in FY25 (though not in Japan).