Switch driving growth at Nintendo as console nears 70 million sales

The sky is blue, water is wet, and the Switch is still a huge growth driver for Nintendo. According to the company's fiscal report for the six months ended September 30, 2020, net sales rose by 73.3 percent year-on-year to 769.5 billion yen ($7.4 billion), while profits increased by 234 percent to 213.1 billion yen ($2.05 billion) over that same period.

The company attributed that uptick to the continued performance of the Nintendo Switch, with both hardware and software sales both rising year-on-year. 

Hardware sales reached 12.53 million units over the past six months, representing an 80.9 percent increase compared to this time last year, while software sales totalled 100.25 million units, which is a year-over-year upswing of 71.4 percent. 

Those additional console sales mean the Switch has now sold 68.30 million units to date. That's five times the number its predecessor the Wii U (13.52 million units) accumulated during its entire lifetime. 

Looking specifically at software, Nintendo explained that both new and catalog titles have been bringing home the bacon. Paper Mario: The Origami King, which launched in July, has amassed 2.82 million sales, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons has now sold 14.27 million units during this fiscal year to reach lifetime sales of 26.04 million units. 

Overall, there are now 20 titles that have surpassed 1 million sales on the Switch, and Nintendo believes they "contributed significantly" to the overall growth of the platform. 

Turning towards the company's digital business, Nintendo explained rising sales of downloadable software, add-on content, and Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions saw Digital sales increase by 139.4 percent to 171.5 billion yen ($1.6 billion). 

As for its mobile business, IP related income rose by 33.9 percent to 26.7 billion yen ($257.5 million) thanks to the continued performance of applications released in previous fiscal years. 

Looking ahead, Nintendo has upwardly adjusted its fiscal forecast based on its sales performance over the past six months. It now expects Switch hardware and software sales to total 24 million units and 170 million units, respectively, by the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2021. 

It's also forecasting upwardly revised net sales of 1.4 trillion yen ($13.5 billion) and profits of 300 billion yen ($2.89 billion) over that same period.