Nintendo anticipates that Switch sales will hit 155 million units by the end of this fiscal year, as detailed in the financial report released today.
To reach this target, the company needs to sell 13.5 million consoles from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025, which is a significant number for a system in its eighth year. Analysts speculate that Nintendo might reduce the prices of the Switch lineup or offer substantial game bundles in key regions in the upcoming months for the first time.
“13.5 million Switches for the year is a very ambitious target for sales at the late stage of the console’s life cycle. Nintendo is often unpredictable. Either it has secret high-profile games that we don’t know about yet, or in the near future, the prices of the Switch will finally be reduced,” said analyst Serkan Toto.
In the last fiscal year, ending March 31, Nintendo sold 15.7 million Switch consoles. This achievement came without a price reduction, but was bolstered by popular titles such as ‘The Legend of Zelda | Tears of the Kingdom’ and ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder.’ Out of the total, 1.96 million consoles were sold in the period from January to March.
During the last fiscal year, Switch users purchased nearly 200 million game copies — with 30 titles selling over 1 million each, including 11 from third-party developers.
Nintendo aims to sell an additional 165 million game copies this year, targeting a cumulative total of 1.4 billion by March 31, 2025, not counting digital-only eShop games.
The data indicates that the Switch user base is highly active and engaged. In contrast, Nintendo 3DS users have purchased less than 400 million game copies throughout the device’s lifespan.
Nintendo’s top ten best-selling Switch games as of March 31, 2024:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 61,970,000 copies (+1.39M for the quarter)
- Animal Crossing | New Horizons – 45,360,000 copies (+0,57 million copies per quarter)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 34,220,000 copies (+0.55 million copies per quarter)
- The Legend of Zelda | Breath of the Wild – 31,850,000 copies (+0,24 million copies per quarter)
- Super Mario Odyssey – 27,960,000 copies (+0.31 million copies per quarter)
- Pokémon Sword and Shield – 26,270,000 copies (+0.10 million copies per quarter)
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet – 24,920,000 copies (+0.56 million copies per quarter)
- Super Mario Party – 20,660,000 copies (+0.32 million copies in the quarter)
- The Legend of Zelda | Tears of the Kingdom – 20,610,000 copies (+0.33 million copies in the quarter)
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 17,450,000 (+0.25 million copies per quarter)
Updates on other Nintendo games with sales of more than 1 million in the last fiscal year:
- Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 14,250,000 copies (+0.27 million copies per quarter)
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 13,470,000 copies (+0.30 million copies)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder – 13,440,000 copies (+1.48 million copies)
- Nintendo Switch Sports – 13,110,000 copies (+0.63 million copies)
- Mario Party Superstars – 12,890,000 copies (+0.58 million copies)
- Splatoon 3 – 11,960,000 copies (+0.25 million copies)
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land – 7,520,000 copies (+0.56 million copies in the last two quarters)
- Pikmin 4 – 3,480,000 copies (+0.15M copies)
- Super Mario RPG – 3,310,000 copies (+0.17 million copies)
- Princess Peach | Showtime! – 1,220,000 copies (new)
- Mario vs. Donkey Kong – 1,120,000 copies (new)
Should Nintendo achieve its sales targets for the Switch this year, the hybrid console family is poised to surpass the Nintendo DS, which sold 154.2 million units, and potentially even the PlayStation 2, with over 155 million units sold, by next spring. This would crown it the best-selling gaming system in industry history.
