Nintendo has posted earnings for a huge holiday quarter in which the Switch sold more consoles than ever. 11.57 million consoles were moved in total, bringing the Switch close to 80 million sold since its 2017 launch. Nintendo has increased its forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31st to 26.5 million Switch units, also boosting its net profit estimate 33 percent to 400 billion yen, or about $3.82 billion.
The Switch has now outsold the 3DS in terms of lifetime sales, with the older handheld reaching a total of 75.94 million units before production was ended. Only 730,000 3DS games were shipped during the last quarter, underlining that the platform really is dead at this point.
It was also a massive quarter for Nintendo in terms of software sales, with nearly 76 million units sold. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons both crossed the 30 million mark for the first time, while The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sword/Shield have now sold more than 20 million each.
Nintendo already raised its fiscal year forecast to 24 million Switch units from 19 million three months ago, citing increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But with more than 12 million consoles shipped already at that point in the year, it was still a fairly conservative prediction; last year’s holiday quarter saw Nintendo ship almost 11 million consoles.
The biggest Switch title coming in the next quarter is likely to be Capcom’s Monster Hunter Rise, while expanded Wii U port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is also coming later this month. Both games will be offered as part of Switch hardware bundles, which could further boost Switch sales for the rest of the fiscal year.
