Nintendo Switch Sales Pass 114 Million, But Company Expects To Sell Fewer Units This Fiscal Year

Nintendo Switch sales have continued to climb, as 114.3 million consoles have shipped out as of September 30. These new numbers came from Nintendo's results for the first 6 months of the current fiscal year, which the company says saw net sales increase by 5% to $4.5 billion and net profit go up 34% to $1.58 billion.

While small improvements in sourcing semiconductors and other components have been noted, Nintendo still expects to sell fewer Switch consoles during this fiscal year and it has revised its outlook for the months ahead. During the first six months of its current fiscal year, 19.2% fewer Switches were sold compared to the previous period, with Nintendo citing various factors such as the global semiconductor shortage.

Nintendo is predicting a conservative 19 million hardware sales in total for this period, although the release of a new mainline Pokemon game during the holiday season will likely see the console--available in three distinct models--sell extremely well during this quarter. Nintendo has also steadily released a number of exclusive games this year, all of which have been critical and financial success stories.

"Regarding the Nintendo Switch business during the first half of this fiscal year--April through September 2022--each title released this period has sold well, with Splatoon 3 getting off to a good start with sales of 7.90 million units, as well as Nintendo Switch Sports at 6.15 million units, Mario Strikers: Battle League at 2.17 million units, and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 at 1.72 million units sold," Nintendo said.

The Switch has emerged as one of Nintendo's best-selling home consoles of all time, having beaten the lifetime sales of the Wii (101.63 million) and is on track to dethrone the PlayStation 4 (116.6 million lifetime sales) and the Game Boy, which sits at an impressive 118.69 million lifetime sales. It still has a long way to go before it can beat the sales record of the Nintendo DS, as that range of handheld consoles sold over 154 million units during its long life on the market. It currently sits in second place on the list of best-selling consoles of all time, with the PlayStation 2 reigning supreme with 155 million lifetime sales.

Nintendo has also formed a new subsidiary company, Nintendo Systems Co Ltd, in partnership with mobile games developer DeNA Co Ltd. This new venture will officially open in April 2023 in Tokyo and will be focused on the development and operation of digitalization services for Nintendo.