Nintendo held a small investor briefing in Kyoto Thursday morning to mark the one year anniversary of the Switch 2 and disclose updated sales figures. The hybrid console has sold 22.3 million units worldwide since its April 17, 2025 launch. That number comfortably beats the previous record for fastest selling console in history, which was held by the PlayStation 4 at roughly 18.5 million units in its first year, and it puts the Switch 2 on pace to reach 35 million units by the end of its second holiday season. The original Switch, which launched in March 2017, had sold 17.8 million units after its first year.
The launch has been smoother than any Nintendo hardware release since the Wii. The Switch 2 shipped with a 7.9 inch LCD screen, magnetic Joy Con 2 controllers that attach without rails, backward compatibility with the entire original Switch library, and a custom NVIDIA chip that supports DLSS style upscaling for third party games. The launch lineup included Mario Kart World, which has now sold 18 million copies and become the best selling Mario Kart game in franchise history, along with a refreshed version of Breath of the Wild and an updated Animal Crossing installment.
Supply has remained tight for most of the first year, with Nintendo prioritizing sustained availability over a boom and bust launch cycle. Unlike the PlayStation 5 in 2020 and 2021, the Switch 2 has been available at retail most of the time, though the hyper premium Mario Kart World bundle in red and white has remained scarce. Retailers in Japan, where demand has been strongest, continued to run lotteries through the first nine months. In the United States and Europe supply caught up to demand by late summer 2025.
Third party support has been the real surprise. Historically Nintendo consoles have struggled to attract major third party titles due to the performance gap with PlayStation and Xbox. The Switch 2 has closed enough of that gap that ports of recent AAA games have been arriving more or less in parallel with PlayStation 5 releases. Cyberpunk 2077, Elden Ring, and Baldur's Gate 3 have all shipped for Switch 2 in the last six months, and early 2026 brought Switch 2 versions of Assassin's Creed Shadows and Call of Duty. Frame rates generally sit at 30 frames per second in handheld mode and 60 in docked mode.
First party software has continued to pile up. Since launch Nintendo has released Donkey Kong Bananza, a new Splatoon entry, Metroid Prime 4, Super Mario Odyssey 2, and a remaster of the Xenoblade Chronicles trilogy. A new main line Pokemon game called Pokemon Legends Z-A launched in October 2025 and sold 12 million copies in its first month. The lineup for year two is expected to include a new 3D Zelda, a new Super Smash Bros, and the long rumored return of F-Zero that was teased at the Game Awards in December.
The financial picture for Nintendo has been transformed. The company reported operating profit of 720 billion yen for its fiscal year ending March 31, up 61 percent from the prior year. Shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange have risen 74 percent since the Switch 2 launch, adding roughly 28 billion dollars to the company's market capitalization. Nintendo announced a special dividend to shareholders and said it is increasing its internal investment in original games and in its Universal theme park partnership, which added a Donkey Kong area at Universal Studios Orlando last year.
The online service has been the weakest part of the year. Nintendo Switch Online Plus, the paid tier that includes the expansion pack and cloud saves, has grown to 41 million subscribers but has been criticized for slow rollout of legacy games and occasional server issues during major launches. Nintendo promised at Thursday's briefing that a new online infrastructure update is coming this summer, though the company provided few specifics about what the update will actually include. The Nintendo Music streaming app, which launched last fall, now has 8 million monthly active users.
Looking at year two, analysts at Piper Sandler and MoffettNathanson expect Nintendo to sell another 18 to 20 million units and to approach 40 to 42 million by this time next year. The big unknowns are whether the third party flow continues through 2026 and whether the new Zelda title, which has not been officially announced but is widely expected for the fall holiday window, can meet the enormous expectations built up by its predecessors. Either way, the first year numbers have already cemented the Switch 2 as one of the biggest consumer electronics launches of the decade.