The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, two major titles that were released during this time, both performed exceptionally well, according to Nintendo’s financial results for the second quarter of 2023, April to June and saw a rise in sales of Nintendo Switch consoles.
The number of Nintendo Switch hardware units sold during this three-month period was 3.91 million, up 13.9% year over year, bringing the total number of hardware sales for the console to 129.5 million. The Switch is still the third-best-selling system in history, after only the Nintendo DS (154.02 million) and PlayStation 2 (155 million).
As of June 30, 2023, 1.5 months after its release, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has sold 18.51 million copies, according to Nintendo. Sales across the company’s hardware, software, and accessories segment, which includes mobile software, were also up 44.6% from the previous year.
After being released in a number of markets throughout April 2023, Nintendo claims that 168 million people had watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie as of 30 July 2023. As of July 26, the studio reported that the movie had earned US $1.34 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing video game adaptation and the second-highest animated film overall.
The company indicated that during this time, the movie’s premiere “positively affected sales of Mario-related titles.”
Nintendo has several significant titles still planned for release on the Switch in 2023, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder and a remake of Super Mario RPG, and could have several more in the works, considering the company’s penchant for secrecy.
