Nintendo Switch lifetime sales pass 55 million

Nintendo has reported that for the fiscal year ending on the 31st of March 2020, the Nintendo Switch totaled 55 million units sold over the course of its product life cycle so far, with 356 million software units sold to date. The console was helped over this most-recent period by Pokemon Sword and Shield and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

For the year, Nintendo earned ¥1.3 trillion ($12.2 billion), which is up by 9 percent year-on-year, even more impressive considering that 2019 was a great year for the company’s finances. Profits were up by 33 percent year-on-year at ¥259 billion ($2.4 billion).

First-party software performed extremely well over the last year. First there was Pokemon Sword and Shield, which have collectively sold 17.37 million units as of the 31st of March. Then there is Animal Crossing: New Horizons to consider. Despite the game launching just eleven days before the end of the accounting period, it sold 11.77 million copies in that time.

Nintendo confirmed that since its launch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has gone on to sell a total of 13.4 million units in just six weeks.

Other first-party games that performed well include Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Super Mario Maker 2. Nintendo says that 27 Nintendo Switch games sold at least 1 million copies over the financial period. A total of 169 million units of software were sold for the Switch during the financial period, which is up by 42 percent year-on-year.

Revenue from software was 34 percent digital, which is a huge increase year-on-year of 24.8 percent year-on-year. This probably has more to do with the large number of digital-only releases for the platform, many of which are beloved indie games.

Even though the company has had some issues recently with stock being available for retailers, over 21 million Nintendo Switch hardware units were sold. This is an increase year-on-year of 24 percent. Of those 21 million units, 6.2 million were for Nintendo Switch Lite consoles, showing the boost that the lower-priced alternative has provided.

While mobile isn’t a core focus for the company, Nintendo did report that earnings for the division were ¥51.2 billion ($481 million), which is up by 11.5 percent year-on-year.