Nintendo has released its latest quarterly financial report, covering up to the end of September. The numbers eradicate any doubt that the Switch 2 is enjoying the most successful console launch of all time.
Nintendo said its new console had sold 10.36 million units in the four months between its June 5 launch date and Sept. 30. It is selling twice as fast as the Switch, which managed 4.7 million units over the equivalent period. PlayStation 5 sold 7.8 million during its first two quarters, and tookeight months to reach 10 million sales and become Sony’s fastest-selling console ever, narrowly ahead of the Playstation 4.
On the back of these numbers,Nintendo raised its sales forecast for Switch 2 in the current financial year from 15 million to 19 million units. This would make the Switch 2 Nintendo’s biggest seller over its first year,ahead of the Game Boy Advance (18.1 million).
Analysts, whosaid that Nintendo’s initial forecast was too conservative, think the company may still be low-balling slightly, considering that the Switch 2 has yet to see its first holiday season and these numbers don’t include the impact of the launch ofPokémon Legends: Z-A. “Since sales in the second half of the year — which includes the Christmas shopping season — almost never fall below those of the first half, there is a strong likelihood that Nintendo will revise upward again,” Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasudatold Bloomberg.
Nintendo also revealed that Switch 2 launch titleMario Kart Worldhas sold an amazing 9.57 million copies — a 92% attach rate with the console. A large majority of these, 8.1 million, were sold bundled.Donkey Kong Bananza sold 3.49 million copies.
The original Nintendo Switch continues to sell, although a little slower than anticipated, perhaps due to the Switch 2’s runaway success; Nintendo lowered the Switch’s sales forecast for the year from 4.5 to 4 million. Agonisingly, it is just 10,000 units short of the lifetime sales tally of Nintendo DS — 154.01 million to 154.02 million — meaning we can’t yet officially declare it Nintendo’s best-selling console, even though it has almost certainly made those sales up in the weeks since Sept. 30. Nintendo will have to keep the champagne on ice until its next financial report in the new year. Can the older console keep going long enough tobeat PlayStation 2’s 160 million all-time record? It’s looking doubtful — but anything is possible.
