Update: Speaking as part of a briefing reported on by Reuters, Nintendo President, Shuntaro Furukawa, discussed the company's reduced annual Switch target in relation to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage. "We can't produce enough to meet the demand we are expecting during the upcoming holiday season," he said. "Currently, there is no sign of improvement and the situation continues to be severe so I can't say how long it will continue."
Original story: Nintendo’s latest financial results have revealed that the company sold 8.3 million Switch consoles over the past six months, bringing the Switch’s lifetime sales to close to 93 million.
In Nintendo’s financial report for the six months ended September 30, 2021, the company announced 8.3 million Switch hardware sales, with 6.45 million of those being standard Switches and 1.82 million being the Switch Lite. While sales are down year-on-year for the console, the spike provided in 2020 by Animal Crossing: New Horizons was always going to be tough to follow.
The six-month period saw operating profit drop 24.5%, dropping to 219.9 billion yen ($1.9 billion) from the 291.4 billion yen ($2.5 billion) taken in during the same six months in 2020. Net sales also decreased, dropping 18.9% to 624.5 billion yen ($5.4 billion).
Alongside this drop, Nintendo announced that it has cut its annual Switch shipment forecast from 25.5 million units to 24 million units, noting the effects of the global semiconductor shortage. However, the company does expect to see higher success in the near future thanks to the Switch OLED, Metroid Dread, and upcoming Pokémon games Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl and Legends: Arceus.
The additional 8.3 million sales brings the Switch up to 92.87 million sales. That means it is closing in on Nintendo’s best seller, the Wii, which achieved 101.63 million sales. The Switch has already eclipsed Nintendo’s third best selling console, the NES, which achieved 61.91 million sales.
In software, the Switch has sold 681 million games to date. The system’s best-selling game is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with 38.74 million copies sold. Unsurprisingly after its popularity in 2020, Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes in at number 2 with 34.85 million copies sold. Super Mash Bros. Ultimate grabs the final podium position with 25.71 million sales.
In more from Nintendo, the Switch N64 controllers are seemingly sold out until 2022, players are reporting issues with the Expansion Pack games for Switch Online, and a hacker called Bowser has pled guilty to piracy charges.
Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.