Switch reaches 22m lifetime sales in a solid six months for Nintendo

Nintendo sold 3.19 million units of the Switch in the second quarter, pushing the console to 22.86 million units across its lifetime.

Overall, 5.07 million units of the Switch were sold in the first six months of the fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2018. In that period it earned ¥388.9 billion ($3.4b) in revenue, up 4% year-on-year, and ¥64.6 billion ($573m) in net profit, up 25.4% over the prior year.

Software unit sales for the Switch reached 42.1 million units in the first half of the fiscal year, pushing the console's total lifetime software sales to 111 million units. The strongest first-party releases of the fiscal year were Mario Tennis Aces, which sold 2.16 million units following its June release, and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which sold 1.67 million units since May.

However, both games remain a long way from the top of the Switch bestsellers chart, which is still led by Super Mario Odyssey (12.17m), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (11.71m), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (10.28m), and Splatoon 2 (7.47m).

Elsewhere in Nintendo's business, the 3DS sold another 1 million units, which represents a 65.1% drop over the previous year. The Classic Editions of the NES and the SNES fared better, selling a combined 3.69 million units across the six month period.

The company's smartphone business remained a minor concern in terms of the bottom line. Despite launching a new game, Dragalia Lost, during the period, Nintendo's total "smartphone and IP-related income" only amounted to ¥18.7 billion, up 4.7% over the previous year.