This time last year, Nintendo was having a rough go of it. The Wii U was a failing system, the 3DS was aging, and its mobile efforts had yet to fully take off. Now, thanks largely to the Switch, Nintendo has posted sales of $1.38 billion for the three months ending on June 30. This is up 148.6 percent from the same period last year.
The Switch launched in March and has been a success for Nintendo. It has shipped more than 4.7 million of the home console/portable hybrid machines, with 1.97 million of that coming from the last quarter.
Software has performed strongly on the Switch, with new games released during the quarter — Arms and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — selling in the millions. The fighting game Arms has sold 1.18 million copies worldwide, while the racer Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold 3.54 million worldwide.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which was a launch game for the Switch, continues to perform well. It moved 1.16 copies during the quarter, bringing lifetime sales to 3.92 million. This does not include sales of the Wii U version, which launched at the same time as the Switch release.
The Switch will have plenty of software to help it through the next quarter. The shooter Splatoon 2 launched on July 21, and the strategy game Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle comes out on August 29. Pokkén Tournament DX, an upgraded version of the Wii U Pokémon fighting game, comes out on September 22.
