Nintendo Switch annual playing users increases for the sixth consecutive year

Published , by Donovan Erskine

It’s common knowledge that the Nintendo Switch has been a tremendous success for Nintendo, generating massive revenue on its path to becoming the third best-selling video game console of all time. What’s really interesting is how even six years into its life cycle, the hybrid console continues to grow its user base. The Switch’s annual playing users has grown sequentially ever since it released, and just hit a record high in the previous year.

Looking at page 11 of the explanatory material for Nintendo’s (NTDOY) Q1 2024 earnings, we can see that the Switch achieved 116 million playing users in the period from July 2022 to July 2023. This is the sixth consecutive year that this figure has grown, as the Switch’s annual playing users first came in at 19 million users a year after its initial launch. For reference, the Nintendo Switch currently sits at 129.5 million units sold worldwide.


Source: Nintendo

Nintendo also provided a note that explains what it considers an annual playing user:

It’s not too shocking that Nintendo has once again achieved a new record high in annual playing users, as the company also reported a 35 percent increase in digital sales over the previous quarter, primarily driven by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which sold 18.51 million units during the recent period. Stick with Shacknews for everything Nintendo.