Nintendo has published its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2027 (April through June 2026), revealing a peculiar disconnect between the company's revenue and its profit. Nintendo's net sales for the quarter totaled 517.8 billion yen , down 9.5% year-over-year; despite that decline, operating profit jumped 150.5% to 142.6 billion yen, ordinary profit rose 115.1% to 206.1 billion yen, and profit attributable to owners of parent climbed 53.5% to 147.4 billion yen.
The explanation lies in two factors working in Nintendo's favor: software made up a larger share of total sales this quarter than last year, and software carries considerably higher margins than hardware. On top of that, Nintendo recorded a refund of IEEPA tariffs in the US , which had previously been booked as cost of sales in prior periods. It's a one-time boost that further padded the bottom line.
Nintendo Switch 2 momentum continued, with 3.82 million units sold during the quarter, bringing the total to 23.68 million since the console's launch in June 2025. Switch 2 software sales totaled 9.46 million units , with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (May) and Star Fox (June) both cited as steady performers, alongside continued strong sales of Pokémon Pokopia , which originally released in the prior fiscal year.
On the original Nintendo Switch side, hardware sales totaled a comparatively modest 0.66 million units ( 156.59 million units in lifetime sales), but software performance told a different story. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream , released in April, has already sold 7.94 million units , which Nintendo explicitly flags as showing strong growth. Combined with continued stable sales of older Switch titles (which are playable on Switch 2 as well), total Switch software sales for the quarter reached 33.81 million units.
Digital sales across Nintendo's platforms totaled 132.7 billion yen, up a substantial 90% year-over-year, driven mainly by growth in downloadable versions of packaged software. Nintendo's IP-related business (licensing, merchandise, and film) saw an even larger jump, up 107.4% to 34.8 billion yen, which the company attributes to strong audience engagement with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie .
Nintendo made no changes to the full-year financial forecast it originally published on May 8, 2026. That forecast still calls for annual net sales of 2.05 trillion yen (down 11.4% for the full year), alongside operating profit of 370 billion yen, ordinary profit of 430 billion yen, and profit attributable to owners of parent of 310 billion yen.
The company's confidence is clearly tied to an increasingly stacked release calendar. Beyond Splatoon Raiders , which just launched in July, Nintendo specifically named three major Switch 2 titles still to come this year: Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave in September, Nintendo Switch Sports Resort in October, and, notably, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , re-confirmed for a 2026 release for the joy of all Zelda fans. On the original Switch side, Rhythm Heaven Groove launched in July, with Nintendo stating it intends to keep leaning on its installed base and back catalog of evergreen titles to sustain engagement on the older platform.
About the author : With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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