Nintendo Switch 2 Hits 23.68 Million Units, Overtakes GameCube Lifetime Sales
By OFOKI TECH | August 11, 2026
Nintendo published its Q1 FY2027 financial results on August 6, 2026, and the numbers show the Switch 2 has sold 23.68 million units worldwide since its June 5, 2025 launch. That total exceeds the GameCube’s lifetime sales of 21.74 million units, a milestone the older console needed five years to reach. The report also reveals a 34.4% year-over-year drop in quarterly hardware sales, which Nintendo attributes to the comparison against the console’s launch window last year.
Quarterly Sales: 3.82 Million Hardware Units
During the April to June 2026 quarter, Switch 2 hardware sales reached 3.82 million units, down from 5.82 million in the same quarter last year. Nintendo explicitly states that this decline is expected, as the year-ago quarter included the system’s launch. The company adds that, for a console in its second year, sell-through compares favorably to the adoption trajectory of the original Switch at the same stage. In the Japanese market, where a price revision took effect on May 25, hardware sell-through has remained solid. The original Switch, meanwhile, sits at 156.59 million units lifetime, just 10,000 units shy of overtaking the Nintendo DS.
Software and First-Party Titles Drive Numbers
Switch 2 software sales totaled 9.46 million units in the quarter, up 9.2% year-over-year. Two first-party titles carried the bulk of that figure: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream sold 7.94 million units, while Pokémon Pokopia added 1.27 million. Nintendo Switch software, playable on both systems thanks to backward compatibility, moved 33.81 million units in the same period, up 38.6% year-over-year. Nintendo estimates that annual playing users exceeded 100 million during the period, maintaining the level set in the previous fiscal year.
Financial Results: Revenue Down, Profit Up
Nintendo posted 517.8 billion yen in net sales for the quarter, a 9.5% decline year-over-year. However, operating profit surged 150.5% to 142.5 billion yen, and net profit rose 53.5% to 147.4 billion yen. The company attributes part of the profit jump to foreign exchange gains and a strong showing from The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which contributed to a 107.4% increase in IP-related income.
Price Hikes and Forward Forecast
Nintendo has already raised the Switch 2’s price in Japan to 59,980 yen (from 49,980 yen) effective May 25, 2026. Similar increases to $499.99 in the US and €499.99 in Europe are scheduled for September 1, 2026. The company cites rising memory component costs and tariff impacts as contributing factors. For the full fiscal year ending March 2027, Nintendo forecasts 16.5 million Switch 2 hardware units and 60 million software units. That represents a decline from the 19.86 million hardware units sold in FY26, which Nintendo acknowledges reflects the concentrated nature of launch-year demand.
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