Nintendo Switch Continues To Soar, Selling Even Faster Compared To Last Year

The Nintendo Switch has further solidified its position as the second-best-selling Nintendo console of all time, as the company reported that sales of the hybrid gaming system had reached 132.46 million units sold as of September 2023. That makes the Switch the third-best-selling console of all time and it's just 21 million sales shy of toppling the record set by the DS family of handheld consoles. Sony's PlayStation 2 still seems secure in the top spot--for now--as its 155 million lifetime sales record has remained unbroken for many years.

For the six months ending on September 30, 2023, Nintendo posted an operating profit of $1.9 billion. Net sales increased 21.2% year-on-year to $5.3 billion, and 78.3% of this figure came from international markets. The OLED Switch continues to be the most popular model (4.69 million units shipped) while the regular model came in second (1.25 million units shipped), and the Switch Lite was in third place (0.90 million units shipped) for a grand total of 6.84 million Switch console sales in the first six months of the 2024 financial year. Compared to the first six months of the 2023 financial year, Switch console sales were up by 2.4%.

"For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of Nintendo Switch, we try not only to put one system in every home, but several in every home, or even one for every person" Nintendo said in its forecast statement. "Another objective is to continually release new offerings so more consumers keep playing Nintendo Switch even longer and we can maximize hardware sales."

On the software side, Nintendo experienced some excellent growth as sales increased by 1.8% to 97.1 million units sold during these six months. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom now has 19.5 million lifetime sales and Pikmin achieved 2.61 million sales in its first six weeks. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe continues to be a sales juggernaut and it made another 3.22 million sales in this period, while Super Smash Bros. Ultimate added another 1.35 million sales to its lifetime tally.

Looking ahead, Nintendo has a very strong lineup of games on the horizon. Super Mario Bros. Wonder has launched to critical acclaim, a remake of Super Mario RPG launches on November 17 alongside Bluey: The Video Game, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's next DLC expansion arrives in December, and next year features heavy-hitters Mario vs. Donkey Kong and Princess Peach: Showtime.