Nintendo raises fiscal forecast after Switch passes 132 million lifetime sales

The Nintendo Switch has sold 132.46 million units across its entire lifetime, and rising sales during the last quarter have prompted Nintendo to increase its fiscal forecast for the current fiscal year.

As noted in the company's fiscal report for the six months ended September 30, 2023, Switch hardware sales increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year during Q2 to 6.84 million units–with the Switch OLED Model representing the largest chunk of that total with 4.69 million units sold. Software sales also rose by 1.8 percent to 97.08 million units over the same period.

Those factors helped Nintendo deliver consolidated net sales of 796.2 billion yen ($5.2 billion) over the past six months, which is an increase of 21.2 percent year-on-year. The Japanese company also reported profits of 271.3 billion yen ($1.8 billion), representing a year-over-year upswing of 17.7 percent.

Digging into those results, Nintendo noted that "each title released this fiscal year has sold well." The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has now sold 19.5 million copies since launching in May and Pikmin 4 has sold 2.61 million copies since July.

The release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April also positively impacted sales of Mario-related titles, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe recording sales of 3.22 million units to surpass 57 million lifetime sales.

Within the company's digital business, sales of downloadable software and sales related to add-on content and Nintendo Switch Online also increased by 15.8 percent to 217.5 billion yen.

Nintendo's mobile and IP-related business recorded sales of 55 billion yen, an increase of 133.3 percent year-on-year. The company attributed that surge to the "generation of revenue related to The Super Mario Bros. Movie."

Discussing the enduring appeal of the Nintendo Switch, which is nearing the end of its lifecycle, Nintendo said it still dreams of putting one system (or even several) in each home around the world.

Looking ahead, Nintendo has upwardly revised its fiscal forecast for the year ending March 31, 2024, in response to the sale trends it witnessed over the past six months and a reevaluation of assumed exchanged rates. As a result, the company now expects to deliver net sales of 1.58 trillion yen (previously 1.45 trillion yen) and profits of 420 billion yen (previously 340 billion yen) by the end of the current fiscal year.