Nintendo sees impressive profits, with physical game sales remaining significant.

Nintendo’s financial report for the first quarter of this fiscal year highlights that the Switch family of consoles still has plenty of life left, with both the original and its successor achieving impressive milestones.

While hardware sales dipped by 31–34% for both consoles compared to last year, this doesn’t signal the end of their lifecycle. The launch of the Switch 2 in the first quarter of the previous fiscal year skewed year-on-year comparisons due to a sales spike during its launch week. Nevertheless, selling 3.82 million units this quarter and reaching a total of 23.68 million Switch 2 units sold is a significant achievement, surpassing the GameCube. Remarkably, the original Switch, which debuted nine years ago, still managed to sell over 660,000 units in the first three months of this fiscal year.

In just four months, the Switch 2 has sold 10 million units.

While gamers may not be purchasing as many consoles as they did last year, they are definitely buying more games. Sales of exclusive software for the Switch 2 increased by 9.2%, while software sales for the original Switch surged by an impressive 38.6%. The rise of digital media has been a hot topic in the gaming community, especially after recent announcements regarding the end of disc production by other companies. Nintendo’s digital game sales have skyrocketed by 90% compared to last year, yet physical copies still represent 40% of the company’s game sales. This suggests that Nintendo is unlikely to follow suit and halt production of game cards.

Nintendo has generated billions of yen from hardware and software sales this fiscal year, but that’s not all. The financial report reveals that following a ruling by the United States Supreme Court on IEEPA tariff refunds, Nintendo received a $300 million refund, resulting in a 150% increase in profits due to significantly reduced costs. The company stated that players did not bear the initial tariffs, which were mainly absorbed by Nintendo rather than being passed on to consumers.

In addition to this profit boost, income from Nintendo’s intellectual property, which includes merchandise, royalties, apps, movies, and videos, rose by 107.4%. This surge was largely driven by the success of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, released in April 2026, right at the start of the fiscal year. Although it didn’t quite match the earnings of its predecessor, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it still became the second-highest grossing film based on a video game, raking in over $1 billion.

Nintendo takes pride in its family-friendly content and values, aiming to engage both fans and newcomers to its universe and characters—potentially inspiring them to pick up a controller for the first time. With a live-action movie adaptation of The Legend of Zelda in the works, Nintendo hopes to capture an even broader audience and surpass The Super Mario Bros. Movie in box-office revenue.