Nintendo Switch Sales Predictions Fall to 17m, Smash Sells 12m

Published: January 31, 2019 2:20 PM /

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nintendo switch television

Last November, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said he expects the Switch to sell 20 million units by the end of the fiscal year, totaling 38 million in lifetime sales. Analysts claimed that the actual number would fall short about 3 million units, though Furukawa to held his prediction. However, according to Nintendo’s latest earnings report, it turns out the analysts may have been right.

As of now, the Switch stands at 32.27 million lifetime units sold, with 9.4 million of these sold during the holiday quarter last year. Despite these numbers, Nintendo reaching 38 million Switches sold by March 31st seems a little ridiculous. The updated prediction is more realistic, with the company expecting to move 17 million units this fiscal year - or 35 million lifetime consoles sold. As of this financial year, Nintendo has sold 14.49 million Switches.

Software performed fantastically, however, with October’s Super Mario Party selling 5.23 million units. November’s Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee! nearly doubled Mario’s with 10 million copies sold. Smash. Bros Ultimate did even better, hitting 12.08 million units even while releasing in the final month of the year. These games are now part of 27 Switch titles that have sold over a million units. In total, Nintendo has sold 94.64 million units of software - doubling that of last year.

Nintendo is now at $9.17 billion in sales for the fiscal year, up from the $7.88 billion in 2017. Otherwise, the company saw a near 25% boost in profits when compared to the same quarter in 2017. This number is 104.2 billion yen ($956 million,) beating out 83.7 billion yen from the year before. That’s 168.8 billion yen in total for the current fiscal year.

eShop content is seeing additional attention as well. Sales from all digital content, including full-fledged releases, download-only titles, and DLC content, went up a whopping 95.1%, or $774.3 million, compared to last year.

Otherwise, 3DS sales are down 60.5% from last year. Console sales dropped 60.5% or 11.08 million units, with software falling 64.5% to 11.08 million units. Interestingly, SNES and NES minis have sold a collective 5.83 million units since April last year.

Finally, mobile games made up $306.2 million in profit - up 14.7% year-over-year. That said, the mobile Mario Kart Tour has been delayed to Summer 2019. This push will move the title out of this year’s earnings.

Overall, Nintendo predicts $11 billion in total sales, $2.06 billion in operating profits, and traditional earnings of $2.12 billion by March 31, 2019. Despite the sales forecast changing, the company hasn’t moved their financial predictions. They predict software sales will make up for the hardware changes.

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Max Moeller
| Content Writer

Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and gaming journalist. Feels most at home with a controller and something to learn about. Likes emerging things.