Nintendo Switch surpasses 152 million units at the end of its eighth fiscal year, but falls short of Nintendo DS

In our review of Nintendo's financial report for the fourth quarter and close of fiscal year 2025, we were struck by the slight (but still significant) rise in Nintendo's hardware sales between 1 January and 31 March 2025. Nintendo Switch 2 was officially announced during this period, so it was to be expected that sales would slow in favour of the wait for the next console. And so it has. The accompanying documents show the total number of Nintendo Switch units sold at the end of the year, and there are two readings to the data.

On the one hand, Nintendo has managed to surpass 152 million units in the last quarter of the fiscal year, which was within the company's expectations in its previous forecasts. This figure, however, fails to beat the target of surpassing Nintendo DS, the company's most successful hardware (155M units), nor the a priori unattainable PlayStation 2 figure of 160 million units. Nintendo Switch therefore remains the third best-selling console in history.

There is a chance that Switch 1 will surpass the 155 million of Nintendo DS, partly due to an "rebound effect" that the now possible stock-outs of Switch 2 at launch may cause in the coming weeks, but in any case it does not seem a milestone that we will see surpassed in the next quarterly report of fiscal year 2026.

Do you think Switch could unseat Nintendo DS as Nintendo's best-selling console in its history this year?