Switch nearing 130 million lifetime sales after Tears of the Kingdom boost

Nintendo experienced a bumper quarter thanks to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

The open-world adventure sold 18.5 million units in under six weeks to help drive both software and hardware sales.

As highlighted in the company's fiscal report for the first quarter ended June 30, 2023, consolidated net sales increased by 50 percent year-on-year to 461.3 billion yen ($3.2 billion). Profits also increased by 52.1 percent to 181 billion yen ($1.26 billion) over the same period.

Drilling down, Nintendo explained that unit sales for the entire Nintendo Switch family (which includes the Switch OLED Model and Switch Lite) rose by 13.9 percent year-on-year to 3.91 million units.

The Switch has now surpassed 129.5 million lifetime sales, further solidifying its place as the best-selling Nintendo home console of all time. The only piece of Nintendo hardware to have outsold the Switch at this stage is the original Nintendo DS, which amassed 154 million lifetime sales.

Zelda and Mario: the perfect double act for Nintendo

Software unit sales also grew by 26.1 percent year-on-year to 52.2 million units. As we've already noted, Tears of the Kingdom drove that upswing, but the launch of The Super Mario Bros. Movie was another major factor, with Nintendo explaining the movie boosted sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and other Mario-related titles.

"Global sell-through of first-party software this quarter reached the highest level for a first quarter since the launch of Nintendo Switch," noted Nintendo, again attributing that success to the launch of Tears of the Kingdom.

Sticking with software, digital sales increased by 35.9 percent year-on-year to 119.6 billion yen and accounted for 47.3 percent of total software sales during the quarter. Nintendo attributed that increase to "several factors" including downloadable versions of Tears of the Kingdom and an uptick in sales related to Nintendo Switch Online.

The Japanese company also highlighted a surge in the number of annual playing users on Switch, with a record 116 million people using their console between July 2022 and June 2023.

Glancing briefly at Nintendo's mobile and IP-related business, the company said an "increase in income from royalties and the high level of audience engagement with The Super Mario Bros Movie" resulted in sales increasing by 190.1 percent year-on-year to 31.8 billion yen.

Looking ahead, Nintendo has reiterated its existing guidance and is forecasting net sales of $1.45 trillion yen and profits of 340 billion yen by March 31, 2024. It also expects to deliver Switch hardware sales of 15 million units and software sales of 180 million units by the end of the current fiscal year.