Nintendo Switch 2 sales fall to 6.49M units in first half of fiscal year

Nintendo sold 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles between April and September 2026, down from 10.36 million in the same period last year, according to its latest financial report. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told reporters the company is not considering further price changes, Reuters reported.

The drop is 3.87 million units. CNBC, cited by IGN, put Switch 2 sales for the July-September quarter at 2.67 million, down 41% from a year earlier and below the 3.82 million sold in April-June. Bloomberg reported that operating profit for the three months to September 30 fell 16% to 73.9 billion yen (about $467 million), on a 15% decline in sales.

The original Switch sold 1.27 million units in the six months, down 32.7%.

Software is moving in the other direction. Switch 2 game sales rose 18.8%, from 20.62 million to 24.49 million units. Switch 1 software rose 6.8%, from 61.56 million to 65.73 million. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream sold 8.81 million units, Rhythm Heaven Groove 2.89 million and Splatoon Raiders 2.42 million. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, released in September, sold 1.34 million, and StarFox, released in June, sold 1.17 million. Mario Kart World, which launched alongside the console, added 1.78 million.

Nintendo raised the Switch 2 price after announcing the change in May. PC Gamer reports that Japan saw the increase in May, while the US, Canada and Europe saw it on September 1. The US price is now $500, $50 above the launch price. Nintendo cited “changes in market conditions”; IGN links the rise to the memory shortage it calls the “RAMpocalypse”, which has also pushed Microsoft and Sony to raise console prices.

Nintendo’s forecast for the year ending March 2027 is 16.5 million Switch 2 units. PC Gamer compares that with 19.86 million sold in the previous 12 months, a 16.9% reduction. According to Reuters, Furukawa said Nintendo has enough memory to meet that forecast.

Why it matters

The six-month figure is a hard comparison. IGN notes that the Switch 2 had a record-breaking launch with ample stock and became the fastest-selling console of all time. Lifetime sales are now 26.35 million, which IGN says keeps it ahead of the original Switch on launch-aligned sales over the first six quarters.

Investors are still wary. Reuters said they are concerned about the memory situation and a lack of high-profile Switch 2 titles this year. The Ocarina of Time remake launches today, and Nintendo shares rose 8.13% following the release and the financial report.

Serkan Toto, CEO of Kantan Games, told CNBC that the remake is “Nintendo’s only real blockbuster this fiscal year” and that it is “not enough to make investors happy, especially after the device is now as expensive as it is.” He said Nintendo needs to deliver more big games next fiscal year. Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves are confirmed for next year, and IGN says fans hope for the next mainline Super Mario game.

What we don’t know yet

The reporting period ended on September 30, so the figures do not show how the September price increase affects holiday sales in the US, Canada and Europe.