The Nintendo Switch family of systems has officially crossed the threshold of 150 million units sold worldwide. This is the main headline coming out of Nintendo’s Q3 results of Fiscal Year 2025.
Of course, this news is predated two weeks from the official reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2, which will get a more complete unveiling in April—something that Nintendo repeated in its latest report.
Victory lap
The Nintendo Switch is on the cusp of entering its ninth year on the market in March. Thus, this achievement of 150 million units sold is a grand one.
It’s the first Nintendo system to ever hit that number since the Nintendo DS. This means that the Switch is just 4 million units shy of being the best-selling Nintendo system in the company’s history.
Mixed signals, though not really
This achievement was slightly muddied by a drop in statistics, as there were drops in all sectors. Hardware sales this period were down 30.6%, and software sales took a 24.4% dip. Digital sales slowed down by 29%, resulting in a total of 245.8 billion Yen for the company.
Still, Nintendo is ‘in the black,’ as the saying goes, with an operating profit of 247.5 billion Yen being generated from its variety of ventures combined.
While Nintendo has long been expecting gradual dips in the Switch’s market performance, it does admit in this report that the drop was “more than expected.” Even so, it helps that the Switch 2 was finally shown to the world ahead of this report; while Switch sales are tapering off, its successor is just around the corner to garner newfound life into the brand.
The true silver lining of this particular situation is that Nintendo’s report also confirms that it’s seen an increase in annual active players, with a new high of 129 million.
This means that 129 million of the 150 million units worldwide were used at some point between January and December of 2024. That’s an additional 2 million from the 2023 stat. While Nintendo doesn’t elaborate on overall usage time, this stat does at least show that Switch units aren’t just being purchased and stored, but continually used.
While Switch sales are slowing down, the platform remains active and healthy, even after almost a full decade of being on the market.
The future is near
Nintendo reiterated its 2025 first-party release calendar in this report, which has a grand total of (just) four titles. Of course, we know this to be a bit disingenuous, as this is simply what’s been announced to date.
Very on-the-nose, a new section in the release calendar has been added; Hardware, which has the sole entry of “Nintendo Switch 2” and a tentative “2025” release date.
Alongside the now revered ‘first look trailer‘ of the Switch 2, the company confirmed a special Switch 2 Nintendo Direct presentation for April 2, 2025. It’s expected that we’ll get a more in-depth look at the system, its features, and of course, the games we’ll be playing on it. More details like its price and release date are also hoped to be revealed during that presentation.
As of the time of writing, that Nintendo Direct is eight weeks away. By then, Nintendo’s outlook for 2025 and beyond will be far more grand. Nevertheless, with all the excitement surrounding the Switch 2, it cannot be overlooked that the gaming world is only this excited because the current Switch has truly proven to be a real success for the company.
More from the world of Nintendo:
Nacon reveals slew of Nintendo Switch 2 accessories | Nintendo plays it safe with Switch 2, and that’s just fine
