Nintendo had its best fiscal Q1 since 2012 as it beats analyst expectations

Nintendo has found a way to turn a profit from its Wii U and 3DS systems.

This morning, the publisher reported the results of the first quarter of its fiscal 2016, which represents the three months ending on June 30. And the company revealed that it generated more than $729 million (90 billion yen) in sales. That is up from $603 million (75 billion yen) during the same period last year. The company also reported an operating income of $9.3 million (1.1 billion yen). That is a major improvement from the loss of $76 million (9.5 billion yen) the company reported during Q1 2015, and it also easily outpaced analyst estimates. Wall Street and financial experts around the world were expecting the company to report a loss of around $1 million. The game maker also reported an earnings per share of 56 cents.

Q1 2016 wasn’t only a decent quarter for Nintendo in comparison to 2014. In terms of net sales, Nintendo hasn’t made this much money since its fiscal 2012. Since then, the company’s sales have suffered a constant decline as the Wii, which saw more than 100 million consoles sold, fell out of favor.

But it gets even better than that. This is the first positive operating income for a Nintendo Q1 since its fiscal 2011. Even though the company generated more revenue in fiscal 2012, that was the year it spent a serious amount of cash on research and development for the Wii U.

To what does Nintendo owe this minor resurgence? The easiest answer is Splatoon. The publisher noted that the Wii U ink shooter garnered a serious amount of attention, which helped it sell 1.62 million copies of the game. This even helped push a few extra Wii U systems, according to Nintendo.

Looking forward, Nintendo still expects to generate $4.6 billion in sales and $404 million in operating income for its entire fiscal 2016. Those estimations are in line with what the company previously predicted at the end of fiscal 2015.