Nintendo quarterly net profit drops as Switch 2 unit sales slow

Japanese gaming company Nintendo disclosed a decline in quarterly net profit on Thursday, as sales of its Switch 2 console slowed, though it maintained its annual profit predictions. The company's first-half net profit increased by 11% year-on-year during the first half of 2026-27. However, in the second quarter, from July-September, net profit fell by 29% to 73.5 billion yen ($465.3 million), falling short of the 82.2 billion yen forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Nintendo retained its annual net profit forecast of 310 billion yen.

Sales of the Switch 2 consoles were lower than the previous year, with the company selling nearly 6.5 million units in the first half, down from 10.4 million the year before. The price of Switch 2 was raised due to the surge in the price of memory chips for everyday electronics caused by the global artificial intelligence boom. Some analysts attribute the sluggish sales to the absence of any blockbuster title to stimulate Switch 2 adoption among gamers.

Nintendo released a remake of the 1990s action-adventure classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which has sparked nostalgic fan excitement. The game has received widespread praise, scoring 96 out of 100 on the Metacritic aggregator site, placing it among the best-reviewed titles of the year so far.