The Nintendo Switch is undeniably a flawed console, but that hasn’t stopped it from flying off store shelves the world over. In fact, a recent report from Vandal reveals that the Switch had sold around 45,000 in Spain in its first three days of availability. That might not sound like much, but to put it into context, Vandal claims that Sony sold 8,000 fewer PlayStation 4 consoles in its first days on sale in Spain.
Similar gains have been reported in the United States and Nintendo’s home country of Japan as well, where the Switch is outselling the ill-fated Wii U and the successful Wii over the same time period.
While these figures might look impressive (and in many ways, they are), we also don’t know how many Switch units Nintendo shipped versus how many Wii U or Wii units it shipped at launch. What we do know it that the “gimmick” of the Switch is much easier to grasp than that of the Wii U and that Nintendo doesn’t have the luxury of a Wii Sports for the Switch. People are buying this console because they want it.
…and because they want to play Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There’s that too.
The Switch will likely continue to sell out every time it comes back in stock for the foreseeable future, but once the newness wears off and everyone has played Zelda, will consumers be as desperate to get their hands on the first ever portable home console? It remains to be seen, but Nintendo’s off to a hot start.
