Nintendo's Switch 2 sales fell 37% in the first half as software and tariff refunds lifted profit

Nintendo said on November 5, 2026, that it sold 6.49 million Switch 2 consoles in the six months to September 30, 37.4% fewer than the 10.36 million of a year earlier, a period that included the system's launch on June 5, 2025. Net sales fell 12.1% to 966.0 billion yen, yet operating profit rose 49.1% to 216.5 billion yen.

These are sell-in figures: sales to business partners, plus Nintendo's own direct and download sales to consumers. They do not measure what stores sold to shoppers. Switch 2 sales since launch reached 26.35 million units at September 30.

Why profit rose while sales fell

Software made up more of the mix. Hardware fell to 54.5% of sales in the dedicated game platform business, from 73.2%. Nintendo also recorded about $300 million as a reduction in cost of sales in the first quarter, for refunds of U.S. IEEPA tariffs that it said it had mainly absorbed rather than passed on through prices. Gross margin rose 14.2 points to 50.4%, and exchange rates added about 22.2 billion yen to operating profit.

Software growth is stronger than the headline number. A year ago, about 8.10 million of the 20.62 million Switch 2 games sold were bundled with hardware; this year about 1.05 million were. Without bundles, Switch 2 software rose about 87%, to 23.44 million units from 12.52 million (our calculation).

Higher prices and an unchanged forecast

Nintendo described hardware as having “strong sales momentum” in the half, and said new titles kept people buying. Sales were 3.82 million units in April to June and 2.67 million in July to September, against 4.54 million in July to September a year earlier.

Prices rose during the half. The suggested U.S. price of Switch 2 went to $499.99 from $449.99 on September 1, after a rise in Japan on May 25 to 59,980 yen from 49,980 yen for the Japanese-language model. Nintendo cited changes in market conditions. In the U.S., Circana reported that Switch 2 unit sales fell 14% in September from a year earlier (our report).

Nintendo left its full-year forecast unchanged from May 8: 16.5 million Switch 2 units, down from 19.86 million last year, net sales of 2,050.0 billion yen and operating profit of 370.0 billion yen. The unit target needs about 10.01 million in the second half, against 9.50 million in the same months a year earlier (our calculation). The forecast builds in about 100.0 billion yen of cost from rising component prices, particularly memory, and from tariffs, and it assumes 150 yen to the dollar, against an average of 159.29 yen in the half.

What sold

The half's biggest seller among Nintendo's own games ran on the older console: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream sold 8.81 million units on Switch, ahead of Rhythm Heaven Groove at 2.89 million. On Switch 2, Splatoon Raiders sold 2.42 million, Mario Kart World 1.78 million, for 16.48 million in total, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave 1.34 million and Star Fox 1.17 million. Digital sales rose 60.5% to 249.6 billion yen, and IP-related income, which includes films and merchandise, rose 87.9% to 62.7 billion yen, helped by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

The other console makers

All three console makers have now reported lower hardware for July to September. Nintendo's combined Switch 2 and Switch sales fell to 3.28 million units from 5.45 million (our calculation). Sony said on the same day that hardware sales in its Game & Network Services segment fell on lower unit sales, in a presentation that gives no console count. Segment sales still rose 9% to 1,208.5 billion yen, 73.0 billion yen of the increase from exchange rates, with network services and software up. Microsoft said Xbox hardware revenue fell 14% on lower console volume.