The Switch 2’s success has sparked a drive for Nintendo to acquire more studios, as the company teases more movies beyond Mario and Zelda.

Switch 2 sales have officially passed the 10 million mark, after just six months, outpacing the original Switch and Sony’s PlayStation 5, and cementing it as another major hit for Nintendo.

It’s a huge success by almost every metric, and even more so when you consider new statistics rolled out by Nintendo. According to the company’s financial results for the second quarter of the 2026 fiscal year, over 84% of Switch 2 players have transitioned from the original Switch, with the other 16% being new players.

This means Nintendo might not have the same slow transition Sony endured in the jump from the PlayStation 4 to the PlayStation 5, which saw many games still being ported to last-gen hardware years later, due to its massive active install base.

Nintendo notes many players within this 84% bracket aren’t just ‘early adopters’ of the original Switch either, ‘but consumers who started playing Nintendo Switch at various points of its lifecycle’ – which is a healthy sign that more casual audiences are taking to it too.

While it remains to be seen if cross-gen titles like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Pokémon Legends: Z-A will still be prevalent in the future, Nintendo has stated that its software development will be ‘centred around Nintendo Switch 2’ moving forward.

‘Going forward, we will shift our primary development focus to Nintendo Switch 2 and expand our business around this platform,’ the report reads.

A smooth transition (Nintendo)

Nintendo has outlined how it intends to ‘strengthen’ its game development arm too, and along with expansions of current ‘development facilities’, it intends to bolster its efforts through the ‘acquisition of developers as subsidiaries’.

‘We will work to strengthen the internal game development organisation within the Nintendo group,’ the report reads. ‘This includes initiatives such as acquiring development companies to make them subsidiaries and augmenting our development facilities, and the construction of Corporate Headquarters Development Center, Building No. 2.’

While Nintendo is traditionally reticent to buy established studios, the company has made some acquisitions over recent years – such as Shiver Entertainment, the studio behind the Switch ports for Hogwarts Legacy and Mortal Kombat 1, and Luigi’s Mansion 3 developer Next Level Games.

As for what studios it could acquire, Nintendo might be eyeing some of its regular collaborators, like Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom co-developer Grezzo or the Madrid-based MercurySteam, creators of Metroid Dread and Metroid: Samus Returns. Although, as ever with Nintendo, they’re unlikely to be the predictable.

Flying off the shelves (Nintendo)

Beyond games, Nintendo is also hoping to bolster its presence in the movie space too. A slide in the presentation shows a number of question marks after the already announced Super Mario Galaxy Movie and the live action The Legend Of Zelda film, with the hopes of ‘building a framework for a consistent release cadence’.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and The Legend Of Zelda are slated for 2026 and 2027, respectively, so this implies Nintendo is already working on plans for future movies, which could land at a regular, potentially yearly, clip. ‘We are continuing to prepare for the ongoing release of movies in the future,’ Nintendo notes.

More movies are inbound (Nintendo)

While there’s no indication of what these future movies could be, the absence of Seth Rogen’s Donkey Kong in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s cast suggests some sort of spin-off could be on the cards, following existing rumours of just such a move. There’s a wealth of other Nintendo IP which could be adapted into films too, between Animal Crossing, Kirby, Metroid, and Splatoon.

Elsewhere in the report, the company revealed there are 400 million Nintendo Accounts in total, with 128 million being ‘annual playing users’ who have been active on the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 over the past 12 months. There are 34 million subscribers to Nintendo Switch Online too, which is actually the same amount reported a year ago.

It’s worth remembering the Nintendo Switch 2 is approaching its first Christmas season, so the console’s success will likely only spike in the coming months. As for new games, Kirby Air Riders and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond are set to launch in the next few weeks.

Metroid Prime 4 launches in December (Nintendo)

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