Despite the global chip scarcity, the Nintendo Switch had a pretty robust holiday quarter, with 10.67 million units delivered between October and December. This puts the system’s lifetime total to 103.54 million units delivered, eclipsing the Wii’s 101.63 million in little under five years.
Despite the fact that shipments were down roughly 8% year over year, Nintendo was clearly less affected by supply chain concerns than other companies. For example, Sony stated yesterday that it only sold 3.9 million PlayStation 5 systems in the same time frame. Last quarter, Nintendo also released the updated OLED variant of the Switch, which “got off to a strong start,” according to Nintendo.
Nintendo did, however, lower its expectation for Switch shipments for the fiscal year by one million devices. It currently plans to ship 23 million, down from a forecast of 24 million in November, which was a downward adjustment from a previous forecast of 25.5 million. To fulfill the updated prediction, Nintendo will need to ship slightly over four million units in the next three months.
On the software side, the Pokémon remakes Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold a combined total of 13.97 million units. Mario Party Superstars sold 5.43 million units, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD sold 3.85 million, and Metroid Dread sold 2.74 million, all of which are impressive numbers for a brand that had previously been considered niche.
Nintendo just launched the well-received Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which could help improve software sales this quarter, but the only other significant first-party product on the horizon is Kirby and the Forgotten Land, which will be released in March.
