Nintendo Switch sales top 32M, Smash Ultimate sells 12M in one month

Nintendo today delivered financial results for the nine months ending December 31, 2018, and in those results we received an update on how the Switch is selling. Nintendo sold 14.49 million Switch consoles during the nine-month period, which represents a 19.5% increase year-over-year. A 20% increase over the same period a year ago is nothing to stick your nose up at, but the Switch is still selling a little slower than Nintendo was anticipating.

As a result, Nintendo has adjusted its sales forecast for the entire fiscal year – instead of targeting 20 million Switch sales for the year, Nintendo is now targeting 17 million. That means it needs to sell about 2.5 million more units by the end of March to meet its goal, which should be somewhat easy even with the industry-wide sales lull that generally happens at this time of year.

Nintendo's original goal of 20 million units sold was definitely a lofty one, and even with the Switch's wild success, it was one that a lot of people thought was too optimistic. Therefore, it isn't much of a surprise to see Nintendo drop its forecast by 3 million units. Still, Nintendo's latest financial report reinforces the notion that the Switch is selling extremely well, as life-to-date sales have now crossed 32 million.

That certainly isn't bad for a console that's less than two years old, and Nintendo's report makes it clear that those console sales are being driven primarily by its first-party game lineup. Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee have sold 10 million copies collectively, while Super Mario Party has sold 5.3 million. The star of Nintendo's report, however, is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which sold a whopping 12.08 million in the month of December alone.

2019 should be a pretty big year for the Switch, as we're expecting a mainline Pokemon RPG along with new Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing titles. It'll be interesting to see what kind of sales forecast Nintendo gives the Switch as it enters its third year of availability, along with whether or not the platform can keep its momentum up. Were you one of the 12 million people who bought Super Smash Bros. Ultimate last month? If so, head down to the comments section and let us know what you think of the game!