Nintendo Switch Sales Surpass 111 Million Units, Despite Decline in Sales

Nintendo has released its FY23 Q1 financial results, reporting that the Switch has now surpassed 111 million units sold. The company was able to cross this milestone despite tepid console sales. Nintendo also revealed that this quarter was quiet on the software side as well.

During the quarter, Nintendo shipped 3.43 million Switch consoles. This figure helped push the hardware to 111.08 million units sold during its five-year lifespan. However, Nintendo fell short of its production targets due to the global chip shortage. As a result, the company faced a 23 percent decline in console sales.

Nintendo broke its sales down per SKU and is as followed:

  • Nintendo Switch – 1.32 million units (down 60 percent)
  • Switch Lite – .59 million units (down ~50 percent)
  • Switch OLED – 1.52 million units (released October 2021)

“Production was impacted by factors such as the global shortage of semiconductor components, resulting in a decrease in hardware shipments and subsequent decline in overall sales,” Nintendo says in its report. The company expects the landscape and production to “gradually improve from late summer towards autumn.” Nintendo remains optimistic that it may sell 21 million consoles throughout the course of its year ending March 2023.

Although Nintendo Switch sales did see a drop, it is slowly working its way to overthrow the GameBoy, which shipped 118.69 million units.

On top of weaker hardware sales, software was also on the decline during the quarter, down 8.6 percent to roughly 41.5 million units. Nintendo delivered on some highly anticipated titles so far this year. Although there’s been a slight dip in sales, its first-party offering has still sold quite respectably.

Nintendo Switch Sports saw 4.84 million units shipped since its April 2022 launch. Mario Strikers: Battle League, another anticipated game, shipped 1.91 million units. Finally, Kirby and the Forgotten Land saw 1.88 million units sold. Finally, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched in April 2017, continues to sell very well with 1.48 million units during the quarter.

Nintendo should see some trajectory from the software front throughout the summer and into the fall. Xenoblade Chronicles 3 has recently launched last week. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are all due to arrive during the fall.

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