Nintendo has just published its 2021-22 fiscal year earnings report online, offering fans an insight into the performance of the Nintendo Switch hardware sales and software sales of the best Nintendo Switch games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokemon Legends: Arceus. Despite reporting a 20% year-on-year decline in hardware sales, the financial report states that the Nintendo Switch has sold over 107 million units, making it the 5th best-selling console in history.
With Nintendo’s announcement that the Nintendo Switch has now sold over 107 million units, the console overtakes the PlayStation (102 million units) to become the fifth best-selling console in history. It now sits behind the PlayStation 4 (117 million units), the Game Boy (119 million units), the Nintendo DS family (154 million units) and the PlayStation 2 ( over 155 million units).
The financial report reveals that the Nintendo Switch shipped roughly 23 million units in the last fiscal year, which would suggest that the console can better the Game Boy’s lifetime sales this time next year. However, we’re not sure it will sell quite as many as the Nintendo DS family for a couple of years yet.
Why? Well, Nintendo Switch hardware sales could be starting to stagnate. The company cites Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ release in March 2020 as a driving force for hardware sales last year, but shortages in semiconductors and other components have resulted in a 20% decrease in sales this year – which still results in an impressive 23 million units sold.
If this downwards trend continues, though, the Nintendo Switch could only shift around 18.4 million units next year, and then just under 15 million units the year after. Of course, this is all speculation, but we might find the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling console of all time for quite a few years to come.
It’s not all bad for Nintendo, though. The company boasts a 1.8% year-on-year increase of software sales, reaching 235 million units and the annual software sales figure ever for a Nintendo platform – not just the Nintendo Switch. With big name titles like Nintendo Switch Sports, Mario Strikers Battle League Football, Xenoblade 3, and Splatoon 3 on the horizon, it’s safe to say that Nintendo is expecting this rise to continue alongside the persistent success of titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
However, for now, we won’t know if these expectations are met. You can delve into the details of the Nintendo 2021-22 fiscal year financial report yourself here, if you’d like. If you prefer playing on other consoles, why not check out our list of the best Xbox Series X games and best PS5 games here.