Nintendo released profits for a major 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 units sold since its launch in 2017. Nintendo has increased its forecast for the fiscal year ended March 31 to 26.5 million Switch units, also increasing its estimate of net profit from 33 percent to 400 billion yen, or about $ 3.82 billion.
The Switch has now surpassed the 3DS in terms of lifetime sales, with the oldest notebook reaching a total of 75.94 million units before production ends. Only 730,000 3DS games were shipped during the last quarter, noting that the platform is really dead at the moment.
It was also a massive quarter for Nintendo in terms of software sales, with almost 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 they have sold more than 20 million each.
Nintendo has already raised its forecast for the fiscal year of 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 sold at that time of year, it was still a pretty conservative forecast; The holiday quarter of last year saw Nintendo launch nearly 11 million consoles.
The biggest Switch title coming next quarter is probably Capcom’s Monster Hunter Rise, while the expanded Wii U port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser Fury also comes later this month. Both games will be offered as part of the Switch hardware packages, which could further boost Switch sales for the rest of the fiscal year.