Switch Lite sells strong at launch, as total Switch sales near 42M

The Nintendo Switch continues to maintain its sales momentum, thanks to the launch of the Switch Lite and notable game launches.

The Switch has been on the market for two and a half years, and the introduction of the Lite and its early impact on Nintendo's sales show the company still has a knack for using hardware revisions to reignite sales.

Nintendo said this week that overall Switch sales (including original and Lite models) stood at 6.93 million units during the first six months of the company's fiscal year from April through September. That's up 37 percent from the same period a year prior.

Overall Switch hardware sales for the first six months were boosted by the September launch of the Switch Lite, a cheaper, handheld-only version of the original hybrid version of the console. The Lite sold 1.95 million units during the period; the original sold 4.98 million.

The Switch Lite was able to achieve those sales in the 10 days before the end of Nintendo's fiscal quarter.

Nintendo still expects to sell 18 million units in total for the fiscal year ending in March 2020. Switch's total life to date sales stand at 41.7 million units.

Major software launches helped boost Nintendo financials during the six month period as well, with Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2.3 million sold), The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening (3.13 million), and Super Mario Maker 2 (3.93 million) driving software sales.

For the six months ended September 30, Nintendo reported a 14 percent year on year boost in sales to 444 billion yen ($4 billion). Operating profit was up 53 percent to 94.2 billion yen.