Switch 2 Reaches 26.35 Million Units as First-Half Sales Drop 37%
Nintendo shipped 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles from April to September, down 37.4%, but kept its 16.5 million forecast for the year.
Nintendo has shipped 26.35 million Nintendo Switch 2 consoles worldwide as of September 30, 2026, according to the half-year financial results the company published on November 5, 2026. Switch 2 hardware sales from April through September fell 37.4% year-on-year to 6.49 million units, down from 10.36 million in the same period last year, which included the console's launch.
In its financial results explanatory material, Nintendo said that although Switch 2 hardware sales declined, “many consumers continued to adopt the system, spurred on by factors like the release of new titles.” Nintendo's quarterly chart shows 2.67 million Switch 2 units for the July to September quarter alone, compared with 4.54 million a year earlier.
Switch 2 software sales grew while hardware slowed
Software moved the other way. Nintendo sold 24.49 million Switch 2 software units in the first half, up 18.8%, taking the console's lifetime total to 73.21 million. Software for the original Switch rose 6.8% to 65.73 million units, while original Switch hardware fell 32.7% to 1.27 million, bringing that console to 157.20 million units.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream was the period's biggest seller with 8.81 million units, followed by Rhythm Heaven Groove at 2.89 million and Splatoon Raiders at 2.42 million. Mario Kart World added 1.78 million and has now sold 16.48 million copies. Pokémon Pokopia, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Star Fox each passed one million units in the half.
Profit climbed despite lower sales
Net sales fell 12.1% to 966.0 billion yen, but operating profit rose 49.1% to 216.5 billion yen and net profit rose 11.0% to 220.9 billion yen. Nintendo credited a higher share of software in its sales and about $300 million in refunds of U.S. tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, recorded as a reduction of cost of sales in the first quarter.
Digital sales rose 60.5% to 249.6 billion yen and now make up 60.7% of Nintendo's software sales. Income from intellectual property, which includes films, rose 87.9% to 62.7 billion yen, helped by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Nintendo keeps its 16.5 million Switch 2 forecast
Nintendo left its full-year forecast unchanged from May 8. It still expects to sell 16.5 million Switch 2 consoles and 60 million Switch 2 software units in the year ending March 31, 2027, which means shipping just over 10 million more consoles between October and March. The forecast already includes an impact of about 100 billion yen from rising component prices, particularly memory, and tariff measures.
All of these figures are sell-in: units shipped to retailers or sold directly by Nintendo, not consoles bought by players. The upcoming Switch 2 schedule in the same document lists Metroid Ravenous, Kirby and the World Beyond, and Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, but Nintendo has not said how much of the remaining forecast it expects the holiday quarter to carry.