Nintendo refuses to comment on next-gen plans as Switch passes 132 million

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa declined to comment on the company’s next console plans on Tuesday, announcing that the Switch has now achieved 132.46 million lifetime sales.

This means the Switch has just over 21 million units ready to go if it is to become Nintendo’s best-selling console of all time, beating the Nintendo DS’s 154 million. Aside from Nintendo consoles, only the PlayStation 2 (155 million) has outsold the Nintendo Switch.

For the three months through September 30, Nintendo reported operating profit of 94.5 billion yen and revenue of 334.9 billion yen, which was above analyst expectations, according to analyst forecasts. Bloomberg.

This is helped by the current weakness of the yen, because most of Nintendo’s profits come from abroad.

Nintendo kept its hardware sales forecast at 15 million, but said it raised its software sales forecast by 5 million units to 185 million.

“The Switch is different from previous devices,” Furukawa reportedly said on a conference call after the earnings announcement. “It has the potential to spark different types of new demand.”

Best-selling Switch games

*As of September 30, 2023 (compared to June 2023)

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 57.01m (+1.55m)
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 43.38m (+0.59m)
3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 32.44m (+0.67m)
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 31.15m (+0.5m)
5. Super Mario Odyssey – 26.95m (+0.51m)
6. Pokemon Sword/Shield – 26.02m (+0.1m)
7. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet – 23.23 m (+0.57)
8. Super Mario Party – 19.66m (+0.27m)
9. The Legend of Zelda: Kingdom Tears – 19.5m (+0.99m)
10. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 16.7 (+0.53 m)

The Switch is now in its sixth year on the market, and Nintendo is expected to launch a follow-up console as soon as next year.

Despite its age, Nintendo sold more Switch consoles (+2.4%) and games (+1.8%) in the first six months of its fiscal year than in the same period last year. 31.87% of appliance sales were in Japan, which is higher than North America (29.67%) and Europe (22.95%).

This is an unusually strong performance for a console that has reached the end of its life. However, it’s clear that Switch hardware sales are on the decline, especially in key markets outside of Japan, where sales are actually down year over year.

In Nintendo’s last fiscal year, Switch sales (17.97 million) were down 22% compared to the previous year, and if it reaches its current target of 15 million for the year, that would represent an additional 16.5% decline.

Nintendo says software sales this year were driven by major releases such as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, while the release of the Super Mario Bros. It has also had a positive impact on Mario game sales, with five million sellers so far this year.

Nintendo shipped 2.93 million Switch consoles during the three months, making for a total of 6.84 million in the first half of FY24. This breaks down into 1.25 million Nintendo Switch units, 4.69 million Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, and 0.90 One million units of Nintendo Switch Lite.

In software, Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold another million units to take its lifetime sales to 19.5 million, while remake Pikmin 4 debuted with sales of 2.61 million in its first six weeks of availability. This period does not include the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder which was released in October and set records launching the franchise in multiple territories.

“For hardware, by continuing to convey the appeal of the Nintendo Switch, we are trying to put not just one system in every home, but multiple systems in every home, or even one system per person,” Nintendo said in its forecast statement.

“Another goal is to constantly launch new offerings so that more consumers will continue to play Nintendo Switch longer and we can maximize hardware sales. For software, we released Super Mario Bros. Wonder in October as the first all-new entry in the Super Mario Bros. series. Side-scrolling game from about 11 years ago.

“In the same month, we launched Detective Pikachu Returns, and as the holiday season approaches, we plan to release more games, including WarioWare: Move It! and Super Mario RPG (both scheduled for release in November). Additionally, The Indigo Disk, the second part of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero add-on content for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, is scheduled to release in December.