Nintendo Switch sales likely to come up short this year despite hitting 114 million total consoles sold

Splatoon 3 Nintendo Switch OLED
(Image credit: Nintendo)

The Nintendo Switch won't hit its original sales target for the current fiscal year, Nintendo has revealed.

In its most recent sales forecast, published earlier today on November 8, Nintendo began by announcing that the Switch had hit a monumental 114 million units sold worldwide (thanks, Gematsu). However, sales are expected to slow for the coming months, between now and the end of March 2023. 

For the current fiscal year, between April 2022 and March 2023, Nintendo originally expected the Switch to ship 21 million units around the world. That figure has since been revised, with the total number of shipped Switch units now expected to be around 19 million instead, a slight drop of two million units total.

This possibly means Nintendo expects to ship less Switch consoles over the coming few months than it originally anticipated. However, it could also mean that the console has had a weaker fiscal year so far than Nintendo thought it would, leading to less total sales at the end of the fiscal year.

This is the second time this year that Nintendo has lowered sales forecasts for the Nintendo Switch. Earlier this year in March, shortly before the previous fiscal year concluded, the company not only announced console sales for the past year had declined by 20%, but also revised future predictions for less Switch sales in the upcoming fiscal year.

The Nintendo Switch sales might be slowing down somewhat for Nintendo, but at 114 million units sold around the world after nearly six years on the market, it's still a sales powerhouse.

Meanwhile, Pokemon co-developer Creatures is apparently working on "next-generation hardware."

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.