Nintendo expects the Switch to become its best-selling console ever

The Nintendo Switch might be entering its golden years, but Nintendo believes the console will make history in the current fiscal year.

The Japanese company expects the Switch to sell another 13.5 million units before April 2025. With the device having just topped 141.3 million lifetime sales, that would take the Switch to 154.8 million units sold—allowing it to squeeze past the Nintendo DS to become the company's best-selling console of all time.

Nintendo shared the forecast in its fiscal report for the full-year ended March 31, 2024, and revealed that net sales increased by 4.4 percent year-over-year to 1.67 trillion yen ($10.8 billion). Net profit increased by 13.4 percent to 490.6 billion yen ($3.17 billion) during that time.

That consolidated upswing came despite Switch hardware and software sales dipping year-on-year, but Nintendo said the Switch is doing well for a console in the eighth year of its lifecycle.

"Unit sales for the entire Nintendo Switch family of systems declined 12.6 percent year-on-year to 15.70 million units," wrote Nintendo.

"This breaks down to 3.86 million units of Nintendo Switch, 9.32 million units of Nintendo Switch–OLED Model, and 2.52 million units of Nintendo Switch Lite. Although unit sales decreased year-on-year, sales were stable for a platform in its seventh year since launch."

Software sales down but Tears of the Kingdom has sold-through almost 20 million units

Switch software sales declined by 6.7 percent year-on-year to 199.7 million units, but Nintendo praised the "good" performances of new releases like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (19.5 million copies sold-through), Super Mario Bros. Wonder (12.5 million copies sold-through), and Pikmin 4 (3.3 million copies sold-through).

The company noted that evergreen titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate also generated "steady sales," driven by people who purchased a Nintendo Switch "comparatively recently." Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remains the best-selling Switch title of all time with almost 62 million sales.

As has become par for the course recently, Nintendo said the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie in April 2023 is having a positive impact on sales of Mario-related titles. The company intends to follow-up that movie with another flick set in the Mushroom Kingdom in 2026.

Glancing at the company's digital business, downloadable software "sold well" to push digital sales revenue to 443.3 billion yen—an increase of 9.4 percent year-on-year. Revenue related to Nintendo Switch Online also increased, while annual playing user numbers were the highest since the Switch launched at over 123 million from April 2023 to March 2024.

Mobile and IP related sales totaled 92.7 billion yen, an increase of 81.6 percent year-over-year, bolstered mainly by revenue related to The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Looking towards the fiscal year ending March 2025, Nintendo has forecasted net sales of 1.35 trillion yen and net profit of 300 billion yen. The company will reveal its next console before the fiscal year is out.