Nintendo Switch Reaches New Sales Milestone, But Still Far Off Target

Nintendo reported earnings for its latest period today, and as part of that, the Japanese gaming giant also updated its sales charts for the Nintendo Switch console. As of September 30, the Switch had sold 22.86 million units, along with 111.1 million games sold for the system.

Nintendo previously forecast that it would sell 20 million Switch consoles during the current fiscal year, which ends on March 30. Over the first half of the fiscal year, Nintendo has sold 5.07 million Switches, so the company needs to have a successful holiday season to hit the mark, it seems.

The company's new CEO, Shuntaro Furukawa, said during a news briefing that Nintendo, like other game companies, often does significant business during the holiday shopping season.

"The Switch's momentum has been in line with our expectations," Furukawa said, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. "While the 20 million goal is not an easy target to achieve, the year-end holiday season is when we get the largest revenue."

Nintendo has a few major releases coming up in the balance of the year that will undoubtedly help sell systems. Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee launch in November, followed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in early December.

Regarding game sales, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze shifted 1.67 million units following its release in May, while June's Mario Tennis Aces has sold 2.16 million copies. Overall, Super Mario Odyssey is the best-selling Switch game with 12.17 million copies sold. Like other companies, Nintendo is seeing an uptick in digital sales. Sales of downloadable games and add-on content combined for Switch amount to ¥39.1 billion ($345 million) for the six-month period ended September 30.