Nintendo Switch passes 155 million sales to become company's best-selling console

Nintendo confirmed cumulative sales of its Switch platform have surpassed 155 million units, cementing the hardware line as the firm’s all‑time best seller and leaving it narrowly behind Sony’s PlayStation 2 on the all‑time leaderboard. The announcement arrived with quarterly results that produced mixed signals for investors: the company reported profit growth but missed revenue forecasts, a split that helped trigger a notable share decline after management flagged weaker software sales and intensifying memory‑chip pressure. Nintendo disclosed that its next‑generation console, the Switch 2, has recorded roughly 17 million units since its mid‑2025 launch — a start executives called encouraging but not yet a guarantee of long‑term parity with the original Switch’s performance. External market research cited by analysts points to a substantial jump in contract DRAM costs in the first quarter versus the prior quarter, tightening component supply and raising input costs for consumer hardware makers. Those semiconductor dynamics, together with potential tariffs and softer software attach rates, were highlighted as immediate risks to Nintendo’s near‑term margins. Observers say the original Switch’s exceptional run owed to an effective mix of first‑party blockbusters, a flexible hybrid form factor, and pandemic-era tailwinds that extended the platform’s life cycle; whether Switch 2 can replicate that combination depends on early software momentum and pricing elasticity among casual buyers. Nintendo is banking on a slate of flagship game releases and other content catalysts, including cross‑media timing such as a new movie window, to accelerate adoption; those bets carry execution and timing risk. The firm faces a tight operational calculus: accept margin compression, raise retail prices and risk dampening demand, or absorb higher input costs while hoping software sales and ecosystem monetization make up the difference. For investors, the headline lifetime sales number strengthens Nintendo’s brand and installed‑base leverage, but the company’s immediate valuation and profitability outlook hinge on component cost trajectories, Switch 2’s attach rate and content cadence over the next 12–18 months. How Nintendo navigates procurement, pricing, inventory and its release schedule will determine whether the successor platform merely sells respectably or becomes the next record‑setter for the company.