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It's been an excellent first year to date for the Nintendo Switch, with the big N in the welcome (albeit stressful) position of racing against demand to manufacture and ship enough units to stores. The concept has taken off, and the company will no doubt hope to see that momentum carry into next year and beyond.

In the NPD stats for the US market the Switch has been a regular star - from a record launch to topping the hardware chart in the last two months. NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella has now weighed in on where the system stands in terms of software sales in its launch year; it's in a good spot, basically.

He goes on to clarify a few other things around this statement - he's referring to the 'launch year' in terms of the calendar year, his statistics are based on consumer spend not just unit sales, and the statistic doesn't account for pack-in hardware in the past such as Wii Sports. As a result the Switch statistics benefit from its early March launch (not April as we said earlier, oops!), as opposed to a late year release.

All of the provisos aside, it's another indication - at the very least - that the Switch is performing well. It's had multiple major hits like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the WildMario Kart 8 DeluxeSplatoon 2, and also the likes of ARMS and Mario + Rabbids Kingdom BattleSuper Mario Odyssey will be a big driver in the festive shopping period, too.

Bask in those positive Nintendo vibes - go on, treat yourself.

Thanks to all that sent this in.