Nintendo continues strong Switch sales momentum ahead of new models’ release

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Nintendo has now sold 36.87 million Switch consoles after moving 2.13 million units in the April-June quarter, a 13 percent increase year on year. Operating profit for the three-month period was down 10.2 percent year on year to 27.4 billion yen ($252 million), while revenue was up 2.4 percent to 172 billion yen ($1.58 billion).

Nintendo has reason to be optimistic about Switch hardware sales over the next few months. August sees the release of a tweaked model with longer battery life, while in September the company is launching the Switch Lite, a significantly cheaper handheld-only version.

The $199 Switch Lite will be an important device for Nintendo, because its other entry-level option is essentially dead. The company shipped just 200,000 units of the 3DS in the previous quarter, with the total life-to-date figure set at 75.28 million.

Nintendo’s big games for the holiday season include Pokémon Sword and Shield, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and a remake of the classic Legend of Zelda title Link’s Awakening. If the company can match its sales pace from the second half of last year, the Switch will end 2019 having sold more units than the SNES, one of Nintendo’s most beloved consoles of all time.