In just four months, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom sold 19.5 million copies, an impressive achievement.
Nintendo’s digital game sales have proven to be instrumental in sustaining the company’s success as the Switch approaches the end of its reign as the flagship console. According to the latest earnings report (PDF) covering the period from March to September 2023, Nintendo has achieved remarkable sales figures. Notably, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, released in May, has garnered an impressive 19.5 million copies sold. Similarly, Pikmin 4, launched in July, has achieved a commendable sales figure of 2.61 million units. Additionally, the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April has contributed to a surge in unit sales for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with an additional 3.22 million copies sold. As a result, Nintendo has successfully sold a staggering 57.01 million copies of this beloved kart racing game to date.
Other Switch titles, as well as games from various publishers, experienced consistent growth, according to the gaming company. During the specified period, a total of 16 games achieved sales of millions of units. Overall, the company’s digital sales for the period from March to September reached 217.5 billion Yen ($1.45 billion), marking an increase of nearly 16 percent compared to the previous year’s digital sales for the same duration.
Nintendo reports that its unit sales for the entire Switch family increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year to 6.84 million units, with the Switch OLED console being the only model that performed well and contributed to the overall growth. During this period, Nintendo sold 32.8 percent more Switch OLEDs compared to last year, while sales of the basic Switch model decreased by 44 percent year-on-year, with only 1.25 million units sold. The decrease in sales for the Switch Lite was less significant, but still resulted in a 1.9 percent decline in units sold.
In the future, Nintendo plans to launch additional games to attract players to continue using the Switch and potentially purchase multiple consoles for their households. As for the upcoming holiday season, Nintendo has several releases in the works, such as WarioWare: Move It!, Super Mario RPG, and add-on content for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. Furthermore, reports suggest that Nintendo has already begun showcasing the ray-tracing capabilities and other advanced technologies of its new flagship console to developers, with a release date expected sometime next year.
