Nintendo has sold 26.35 million Switch 2 consoles since the system launched last year, according to the sales data on its investor page, as of 30 September. The pace has cooled, though: 6.49 million units shipped in the six months to September, 37.4% fewer than the 10.36 million of the same period a year ago, when the console was new.
Software made up the difference. Nintendo sold 24.49 million Switch 2 games in the half, up 18.8%, and 65.72 million original Switch games, up 6.8%. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream led with 8.81 million copies, followed by Rhythm Heaven Groove at 2.89 million. Lifetime Switch 2 software sales stand at 73.21 million, while the original Switch has reached 157.2 million consoles and about 1.59 billion games.
The company’s own commentary, summarised by Wccftech’s gaming editor, credits steady software sales and a one-off refund of US tariffs for a result in which sales fell 12.1% to ¥966.0 billion but operating profit rose 49.1% to ¥216.5 billion. New releases were modest next to last year’s giants: Splatoon Raiders has sold 2.42 million copies since July, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave 1.34 million and the Star Fox remake 1.17 million, while Mario Kart World and Pokémon Pokopia keep selling.
Nintendo’s explanation for the strong older-game sales is simple: because the Switch 2 plays Switch games, titles from past years keep selling, and the original Switch’s installed base of 157 million consoles is a pool of players who can gradually move up. That is why original Switch software, at 65.72 million units, still outsold Switch 2 software by nearly three to one in the half.
Nintendo kept its forecast for the year to March 2027: 16.5 million Switch 2 consoles, ¥2,050 billion in sales and ¥370 billion in operating profit. Because more than half of the profit target was already booked in the first half, and the tariff refund will not repeat, Wccftech reads the forecast as pointing to thinner margins over the holidays.
Nintendo Life, which covered the figures, points out that price increases earlier this year added to the slowdown, and that the Switch 2 is closing in on the Nintendo 64’s lifetime total of 32.93 million. Nintendo also confirmed release windows for its upcoming Switch 2 games alongside the results.
The company’s film business grew as well. Its IP-related income rose 87.9% to ¥62.7 billion, helped by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and a live-action Legend of Zelda film is due in theatres on 30 April 2027.
