The Nintendo Switch is approaching its third birthday, but even with the PS5 and Xbox Series X fast approaching, the hybrid console hasn’t lost any of its momentum. In the last quarter alone, Nintendo sold 10.81 million Switch consoles – a 15% increase over the 9.41 million units it sold in the same quarter last year. This brings the total lifetime sales of the Switch up to 52.48 million units, which is more than the SNES sold in its lifetime.
As Nintendo points out in its earnings report, the launch of the Switch Lite in September had a major impact on sales, giving consumers a cheaper entry point ($199 compared to the $299 of the standard Switch console), as long as they were willing to sacrifice the ability to connect to the TV for video output.
While many games sold very well on the Switch, none performed better than Pokemon Sword and Shield, which have racked up more than 16 million sales since they launched last November. Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Super Mario Maker 2 both topped 5 million sales as well, and 21 games sold at least 1 million copies. Unsurprisingly, Nintendo has bumped its Switch sales target up from 18 million to 19.5 million for the fiscal year.
Although a dropoff following the holiday shopping season is inevitable, there are several big third-party releases set to launch on Switch over the next month, such as Darksiders Genesis, Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition, and remastered versions of the first two Metro games.
As for first-party games, we will be getting Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and Animal Crossing: New Horizons in March. The first two quarters of 2020 might be quieter for Nintendo than the fourth quarter of 2019, but it won’t be long before the Switch overtakes the 61.91 million sales of the NES.
