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Nintendo sold 3.19 million Nintendo Switch units in the second quarter of this year, pushing the total sales to 22.86 million overall.
Added to the first quarter’s success, that takes Nintendo’s Switch total sales to 5.07 million units just between April and September this year.
The strong sales bump Nintendo’s revenue by 4 per cent year-on-year to ¥388.9 billion ($3.4 billion), giving a net profit of ¥64.6 billion ($573 million) – that’s a 25.4 per cent hike compared with the net profit reported for the same period last year (thanks, GamesIndustry.biz).
The Nintendo 3DS, on the other hand, saw a 65 per cent drop year-on-year, although the handheld console did sell a further million units over the period. Sales of Nintendo’s "mini" editions were much stronger, with the NES and SNES selling 3.59 million units since April 2018.
In terms of software, however, the developer’s strongest releases were Donkey Kong County: Tropical Freeze – which has shifted 1.67 units since its May release – and Mario Tennis Aces, which has sold 2.16 copies since it debuted in June. Total unit sales top 42 million for the first six months of this financial year, bringing the lifetime total to 111 million unit sales. Neither of these games rival Nintendo’s strongest sellers – Super Mario Odyssey (12.17 million), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (11.71 million), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (10.28 million), and Splatoon 2 (7.47 million) – just yet, though.
Nintendo is thought to be planning to release an updated version of its Switch console/handheld hybrid, with the second half of 2019 said to be its launch date – possibly as early as the summer. The ins and outs of the upgrade haven’t yet been decided on, but it’s thought an updated LCD could be one update option.
