Nintendo Reports Biggest Profit Jump In Years, Switch Outsells GameCube

Though the second year of the Nintendo Switch’s life has not featured the same number of big-name titles as the first, the console continues to do well for Nintendo. The Japanese gaming firm reported its highest second-quarter profit in nearly a decade in its earnings report released Tuesday.

The Switch sold 5.07 million units in the six months prior to Sept. 30, when the company’s fiscal year 2019 reached its halfway point. That brought the Switch’s lifetime sales to more than 22 million units since March 2017, meaning it has now sold more in a year and a half than the Wii U and GameCube consoles did in their entire lifespans.

Nintendo maintained its Switch console sales forecast of 20 million units for FY 2019. The firm will need to have a strong holiday season with “Pokemon: Let’s Go!” and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” in order to reach that number by April. It is only a bit more than a quarter of the way there so far.

Nine games total sold a million copies or more on Switch, bringing software sales on the popular console to a total of 42 million units. That was a 91 percent increase over the same fiscal period last year, the company said.

Nintendo, which has not yet established the same kind of online ecosystem as rivals Microsoft and Sony, also recorded strong digital sales figures. Downloadable games and add-ons brought in nearly 40 billion yen, a 71 percent year-over-year increase. In all, the company recorded a 30 percent rise in operating profit, its best since 2010.

The smash hit Wii and DS consoles were driving Nintendo’s business that year.

Going forward, Nintendo will try to get some extra cash from the recently launched Nintendo Switch Online service and its growing slate of mobile games. Nintendo Switch Online launched in September, forcing players to pay a small monthly or yearly fee to play games online. The company also recently launched the mobile game “Dragalia Lost,” saying the RPG had gotten off to a “good start.”

The firm also reiterated its plan to release a “Mario Kart” game for mobile devices sometime during this fiscal year. Finally, the company could bolster its hardware sales with the release of an enhanced Switch console in 2019.