Nintendo sold 6.49M Switch 2 consoles in six months and keeps its 16.5M target

Nintendo Switch 2 is now in its second year, and the pace of hardware sales has cooled. In its half-year report published on November 5, Nintendo said it shipped 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles between April and September 2026, 37.4% fewer than in the same months of 2025, when the system had just launched.

The company is not changing its outlook. It still expects to sell 16.5 million Switch 2 units in the fiscal year that ends in March 2027, which means roughly 10 million more have to ship over the holiday quarter and early next year. Total Switch 2 sales have reached 26.35 million since launch.

Games are carrying the numbers

Software went the other way. Switch 2 games sold 24.49 million copies in the half, up 18.8%. Nintendo highlighted Splatoon Raiders at 2.42 million, Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave at 1.34 million and Star Fox at 1.17 million, while Mario Kart World added another 1.78 million.

The original Switch is far from finished either. It sold 1.27 million consoles, down 32.7%, but its games rose 6.8% to 65.73 million copies, helped by Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream at 8.81 million and Rhythm Heaven Groove at 2.89 million. Because Switch 2 runs older Switch games, that library keeps selling to new console owners.

Less revenue, more profit

Net sales fell 12.1% to 966.0 billion yen as fewer consoles were sold, yet operating profit climbed 49.1% to 216.5 billion yen. Nintendo credits two factors: games made up a larger share of revenue, and in the first quarter it received a refund of US tariffs that had earlier been booked as costs.

Digital sales grew 60.5% to 249.6 billion yen. Revenue from the company’s IP business, which includes films, jumped 87.9% to 62.7 billion yen thanks to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

For the rest of the year, Nintendo is counting on the Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition of Switch 2 released in October, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort, the new The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time released this month, and Metroid Ravenous, due in January.

Reported by Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo. Compiled with AI tools.