Nintendo published today the Fiscal Year Earnings press release, announcing to have shipped 2.74 million units of the new Switch console. The company called this "a promising start" while adding that flagship launch title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold 2.76 million units on the Switch as well as 1.08 million on the WiiU, for a total of 3.84 million units.
Nintendo expects Switch hardware sales to reach at least 10 million units by the next fiscal year, though this seems like a conservative estimate. They've also detailed their plans to keep the momentum, including a "continuous stream of third-party games"; software sales for the platform in FY17/18 are estimated around 35 million units.
Regarding Nintendo Switch, we will maintain buzz about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch, which are off to a phenomenal start, and release Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in April and ARMS in June worldwide. We will release Splatoon 2 in July. Splatoon 2 exemplifies the concept of Nintendo Switch, enabling consumers to play anywhere, anytime, and with anyone, and will bring competition between consumers to new levels of excitement. In addition, we will maintain favorable conditions surrounding Nintendo Switch by providing a continuous stream of appealing third-party titles across varying genres. We aim to stimulate the platform and expand sales going into the holiday season this year.
Meanwhile, the Nintendo 3DS sold 7.27 million units with a 7% increase on a year-per-year basis. The company noted that this was mostly due to "Pokémon GO leading to increased sales of software in the Pokémon series and driving the Nintendo 3DS family hardware sales growth
outside of Japan".
Super Mario Run was also mentioned as a title that "elicited a fantastic response from consumers worldwide". Going forward in the smart-device business, Nintendo plans to expand in this particular sector thanks to the experience gained so far by providing new mobile games while continuing to support those that have been already released.