The Nintendo Switch has sold 132.46 million copies so far, based on Nintendo’s half-year financial report. The Switch has already sold 132 million units, putting it on track to become Nintendo’s best-selling hardware of all time. It was able to accomplish this thanks to high software sales for new first-party titles released this year, including The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4.
Gross sales for the stated period were the highest since the portable console’s debut, representing a 21.2% year-over-year gain. This is attributable to a number of causes, including an increase in revenue from smartphone games and the huge popularity of Super Mario Bros. Needless to bring up the yen’s depreciation in Japan. Revenue from mobile and IP-related products climbed by 133.3% year on year, while revenue from video game platforms increased by 16.7%.
If a new-gen console continues to generate sales of the hardware, the Switch could surpass the DS’s statistics. And, given that Nintendo stated in February of last year that it is only halfway through its lifecycle, it appears that the organization will continue to support it long after the predicted next-generation hardware is delivered.
According to Nintendo’s latest financial statement, Tears of the Kingdom has sold 19.5 million sales, with Pikmin 4 selling 2.61 million units, thereby becoming the most popular game in the entire series to date.
Furthermore, the April release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie had a beneficial impact on sales of Mario-related titles,” Nintendo adds in its statistics. Other product sales also increased steadily, increasing the overall number of million-seller titles during this era to 16, including titles from other software companies.
Hardware sales growth
In that regard, hardware sales increased by 2.4% in 2022 compared to 2022. In the first half of fiscal year 2024, 6.84 million Nintendo Switch consoles were sold, with the OLED variant accounting for the lion’s share (4.69 million), while the basic model sold only 1.25 million units. Sales of OLED models increased by 32.8%, while sales of basic models plummeted by 44%. The remaining 0.9 million units were sold by the Nintendo Switch Lite, which remained practically flat year on year. It’s worth mentioning that the profit margin on the Nintendo Switch OLED is lower than on the other variants.
Software sales growth
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which sold 19.5 million units, and Pikmin 4, which sold 2.61 million units, boosted software sales somewhat (+1.8%). Evergreens such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sold 3.22 million and 1.35 million units, respectively. Surprisingly thanks to “reliable sales of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the proportion of digital to physical Nintendo Switch sales of software dropped significantly.
Conclusion
Amidst speculations of a new Nintendo system on the way, it appears the Switch hasn’t slowed down. And owing to the recent release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, sales are expected to skyrocket in the coming quarter. In the future, Nintendo has plans to launch an array of games with the aim of encouraging continuous engagement on the Switch and promoting the purchase of multiple consoles for household use. Nintendo is reportedly set to release its new flagship platform early next year and has started demonstrating the device’s ray-tracing abilities and other technological advances to engineers.
