Nintendo Switch beats estimates with 2.74m units shipped

I'm thinking they're back.

The Nintendo Switch appears to be off to a strong start according to Nintendo's new financial results. The console has shipped 2.74 million units as of March 31st - meaning that many units were sold to retailers for the console's launch month.

Given that Switch consoles continue to be supply-constrained and difficult to find, it's safe to assume that the numbers quoted in this morning's report are pretty close to the number of consoles actually sold to customers.

For some perspective, the Wii U (Nintendo's worst-selling console) had lifetime sales of 13.56 million - so the Switch is well on its way to smash its predecessor's numbers to pieces. Nintendo plan to ship another 10 million Nintendo Switch units this year in the fiscal year through March 31st 2018, meaning by this time next year the Switch should be closing in on beating the Wii U's lifetime numbers. Nintendo shipped 0 Wii U machines this past financial year. Goodnight, sweet prince.

For another comparison, the Wii's first month saw it shift 3.2 million units - so it's not a million miles behind that, either - and the Wii launched in December, in the midst of holiday fever.

After strong reviews and the like analysts were predicting the Switch would ship around 2.3 to 2.5 million, while Nintendo themselves were predicting 2 million before launch. Expectations beaten across the board, then - not bad!

Nintendo also announced that they shipped 5.46 million units of Switch software. 2.76 million of that was Zelda - more than the number of consoles out there, presumably from double-dipping collectors' and regular editions. They plan to ship 35 million units of Switch software in this fiscal year going forward.

Basically, this is an auspicious start for the Switch. There's some pretty decent games available now - Nintendo just needs to keep up the pressure.