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Knowledge-based discourse

Switch Games 1st vs. 3rd Party Unit Sales Trends

After skipping a year, Nintendo resumes reporting the unit ratio between 1st and 3rd party software sales, excluding digital-only titles. It’s more instructive than the revenue ratio IMHO. The chart below shows a clear trend of increasing 3rd party support for the Switch platform, from an anemic 33.1% in FY18 to a 57.9% majority in FY26.

Presentation slide from Nintendo Second Quarter Financial Results and Corporate Management Policy Briefing for Fiscal Year Ending March 2027: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2026/261106e.pdf Software Unit Sales Trends • Titles from software publishers account for a significant share of software unit sales, making a substantial contribution to our business. • Furthermore, their software has a strong presence among download-only titles, which are not included in this graph, and plays a major role in sustaining engagement with our hardware. • Nintendo will continue to deliver new play experiences that only we can offer. At the same time, we will deepen our collaboration with software publishers to further enhance the appeal of the platform as a whole.

[Important note] Using the new unit sales ratio, I updated my estimated physical-to-digital ratios for H1 FY27 and FY26 (imgs below). The changes are minor: Aside from the booked revenue, the share of physical decreased ~1.5% in the other metrics. See my methodology here.

“Packaged” Games Sales: Physical to Digital Ratio, H1 FY27 Nintendo booked revenue 52.2% 47.8% Nintendo gross sales 39.4% 60.6% Consumer spending* 48.2% 51.8% Consumer spending** 45% 55% Units sold† 48.2% 51.8% Units sold†† 42% 58% * If avg. price of retail to eshop = 1:1 ** If avg. price of retail to eshop = 0.88:1 † If avg. price of physical to digital = 1:1 †† If avg. price of physical to digital = 1:0.78
“Packaged” Games Sales: Physical to Digital Ratio, FY2026-03 Nintendo booked revenue 61.4% 38.6% Nintendo gross sales 48.7% 51.3% Consumer spending* 57.5% 42.5% Consumer spending** 54.4% 45.6% Units sold† 57.5% 42.5% Units sold†† 51.4% 48.6% * If avg. price of retail to eshop = 1:1 ** If avg. price of retail to eshop = 0.88:1 † If avg. price of physical to digital = 1:1 †† If avg. price of physical to digital = 1:0.78

[Originally posted on 2026-11-07 Pacific Time]