Nintendo shipped 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles in the six months to Sept. 30, 2026, down 37.4% from the same period a year earlier, according to Nintendo's investor release of Nov. 5. Even so, operating profit rose 49.1% to 216.5 billion yen.
These Nintendo Switch 2 sales are sell-in figures: units shipped by Nintendo to retailers and other outside buyers, plus direct and digital sales. They are not units counted at checkout. The year-earlier period was 10.36 million Switch 2 units.
The numbers
| Six months to Sept. 30, 2026 | Result | Change vs. a year earlier |
|---|---|---|
| Switch 2 hardware | 6.49M units | -37.4% |
| Switch hardware | 1.27M units | -32.7% |
| Switch 2 software | 24.49M units | +18.8% |
| Switch software | 65.73M units | +6.8% |
| Net sales | 966.0B yen | -12.1% |
| Operating profit | 216.5B yen | +49.1% |
| Digital sales | 249.6B yen | +60.5% |
| IP-related sales | 62.7B yen | +87.9% |
Profit attributable to owners of the parent was 220.9 billion yen.
Why profit rose while sales fell
Nintendo says net sales fell because it sold fewer consoles. Operating profit rose because software made up a larger share of sales, and because of a first-quarter refund of U.S. IEEPA tariffs that had been booked in cost of sales. Nintendo's explanatory slides put that refund at about 300 million U.S. dollars and say the tariffs were mostly borne by the company, not passed on to buyers through prices.
Digital sales reached 249.6 billion yen, up 60.5%, mainly from downloadable versions of packaged games. IP-related sales rose 87.9% to 62.7 billion yen, which Nintendo credits to The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Games that moved
- Splatoon Raiders: 2.42 million units.
- Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave: 1.34 million units.
- Star Fox: 1.17 million units.
Nintendo also named Mario Kart World and Pokémon Pokopia, both released in the previous fiscal year, as strong sellers. On the original Switch, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream sold 8.81 million units and Rhythm Heaven Groove 2.89 million.
Forecast unchanged
Nintendo left its full-year forecast as published on May 8: net sales of 2,050 billion yen and operating profit of 370 billion yen. The forecast assumes a cost impact of about 100 billion yen from rising component prices, particularly memory, and from tariff measures.
Nintendo says it launched the Switch 2 Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Edition console and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort in October. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time follows in November and Metroid Ravenous in January.
What this means for you
These figures are about shipments, not about how many people are playing, and they cover only April to September. Nintendo has not changed its full-year outlook. If you already own one, see what owners should know about the Switch 2 jailbreak. If you are deciding on a console, the Ocarina of Time remake is the November release Nintendo points to.
What we checked
Every figure comes from Nintendo's consolidated financial highlights and its explanatory slides for the six months ended Sept. 30, 2026, both released Nov. 5. We did not use outside analyst estimates, and we have not compared these shipments with retail sell-through data.
