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Nintendo

Unique, family-friendly entertainment, Year to March 2027

Providing customers around the world with exciting forms of entertainment that they have never experienced before
Nintendo’s basic management policy puts its highest emphasis on

Unique, family-friendly entertainment

Nintendo sold 19.86 million Switch 2 consoles in the year to March 2026, more than any of its earlier systems in a first year, and forecasts 16.50 million in the year to March 2027, on net sales down 11.4% to ¥2.05 trillion. It sets no management targets. Instead it publishes what it will release, how many it expects to sell, and what it is building next.

World 1

Switch 2 in its second year

  1. Regular releasesRelease new first-party titles at regular intervals, which is crucial to building the foundation that expands the installed base.
  2. Sales forecastSell 16.50 million Switch 2 consoles and 60.00 million Switch 2 games in the year to March 2027.
  3. Nintendo AccountUse Nintendo Account to keep a stable relationship with players as they move from Switch to Switch 2.

Nintendo sold 3.82 million Switch 2 consoles and 9.46 million Switch 2 games in the first quarter, and 23.68 million consoles to 30 June 2026.,

Nintendo sold 19.86 million consoles in to retailers in the year to March 2026, and sell-through was above Switch’s in either of its first two full fiscal years.

Annual playing users were above 100 million, as in the year before.

Nintendo makes the consoles and most of the games for them

Its results depend on both. Each card is one game sold for each console, to 30 June 2026. Switch 2 was released in June 2025.

2.5 gamesNintendo Switch 223.68m consoles, 58.17m games10.0 gamesNintendo Switch156.59m consoles, 1,561.95m games7.6 gamesWii U13.56m consoles, 103.6m games5.2 gamesNintendo 3DS75.94m consoles, 392.31m games

Games per console are worked out from Nintendo’s life-to-date totals. Games are counted by copies sold, packaged or downloaded, including copies bundled with a console, so the ratio for a console that has been on sale longer is naturally higher.

Nintendo expects to sell fewer consoles and more games this year

Switch 2 sold most in the quarter it launched and in the holiday quarter. Nintendo says launch-year sales were more concentrated than for earlier systems.

Sold in, million consolesSwitch 2Switch24685.820.98Apr–Jun 20254.540.91Jul–Sep 20257.011.36Oct–Dec 20252.490.56Jan–Mar 20263.820.66Apr–Jun 2026

For the year to March 2027 Nintendo forecasts 16.50 million Switch 2 consoles and 60.00 million games. The first quarter’s 3.82million consoles are 23% of the console forecast.

Units are sold in to retailers and others. The forecast for games leaves out those bundled with hardware, so the first quarter’s games are not compared with it. The share of the forecast is worked out.

Software rose to 45% of platform sales

In the first quarter of the year to March 2027 Nintendo sold fewer consoles than in the quarter Switch 2 launched, and more games, most of them its own. Hardware fell from 78.8% of platform sales to 55.3%, and gross margin rose 22.0 points to 54.3%, helped by refunds of tariffs it had borne.

April to June 2025The quarter Switch 2 launched
Hardware
79
Software from other companies
7
Nintendo’s own software
14
April to June 2026The quarter with fewer consoles
Hardware
55
Software from other companies
8
Nintendo’s own software
37

Squares out of a hundred, rounded. Nintendo reports hardware as a share of platform sales, and its own software as a share of software sales (64.8% and 82.6%); the split of the rest is worked out.

  1. You can run a company without a target, if you publish the rest.

    Nintendo says it has not set any management index targets because research and development for entertainment is uncertain, and that this keeps decisions flexible. It then publishes unit forecasts, release dates, and what it is building. We recommend that any team without a number to hit still write down what it will ship and when, so its work can be checked against its own words.

  2. Forecast a decline when the last year was a peak.

    Nintendo forecasts Switch 2 sales of 16.50 million after 19.86 million, and explains why: launch-year sales were higher than for any earlier system, and prices went up. It expects net sales down 11.4% while operating profit rises 2.7%. We recommend saying early and plainly when a good year will not repeat, with the reason next to the number.

  3. Let a change of mix explain the margin.

    Hardware fell from 78.8% to 55.3% of platform sales between first quarters as software sales grew, and Nintendo says that, with refunds of tariffs, lifted gross margin by 22.0 points. We recommend showing the mix beside the margin whenever one drives the other, so a jump is understood and not admired.

Sources

  1. 1. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2026). Financial results explanatory material, first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2027. Nintendo investor relations, 6 August 2026. nintendo.co.jp
  2. 2. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2026). Financial results explanatory material, fiscal year ended March 2026. Nintendo investor relations, 8 May 2026. nintendo.co.jp
  3. 3. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2026). Dedicated video game sales units, as of 30 June 2026. Nintendo investor relations, Sales data. nintendo.co.jp
  4. 4. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2026). Management policy: business policy. Nintendo investor relations, Basic management policy, profit distribution, and management indices. nintendo.co.jp

Headwater is not connected with Nintendo Co., Ltd. Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon are trade marks of their owners. Updated 28 September 2026.

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