The latest NPD data has revealed "total lifetime dollar sales" of Switch hardware in the US has now surpassed the Nintendo DS.
This apparently makes the system the second "best-selling" Nintendo platform "in tracked history" within the country. The Wii is still in the top spot. Overall, this supposedly makes Nintendo's latest hybrid system the seventh best-selling video game hardware in the US (no figures were provided).
"Total lifetime dollar sales of Switch hardware now exceed the Nintendo DS, making Switch Nintendo's 2nd best-selling platform in U.S. tracked history (Nintendo Wii ranks first). Switch is currently the 7th best-selling hardware platform in lifetime U.S. dollar sales."
Nintendo's hardware has experienced just as much success over the past month. NPD's Mat Piscatella noted how it was also the "best-selling" system of February 2021 (again, no figures were attached).
It's also had the best hardware sales of any platform in the month of February since the Nintendo Wii in 2009:
"Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars in February. Unit and dollar sales of Nintendo Switch hardware in February were the highest for any hardware platform in a February month since the Nintendo Wii in Feburary 2009."
On the software front, Nintendo has performed just as well - with NPD data revealing the first-party release Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury was the best-selling game last month. This enhanced Wii U re-release is also the second best-selling game of 2021 so far, right behind the latest entry in the Call of Duty series.
Did you contribute to Switch hardware sales last month? Leave a comment down below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 77
Go Nintendo go!
I wonder if dollar sales rankings are adjusted for inflation??
I’d love to see the data.
So many great games... I'll be annoyed as heck if they're not compatible with the Switch's successor.
Great that it's doing so well in so many places, especially in the big markets.
Nintendo hit the jackpot with the switch but as we know Nintendo usually make a bad decision on the next console, 64 was a beast then the gamecube flopped, wii was beast then the wiiU flopped, switch is beast....
@UltimateOtaku91 ...which is why they will be making another one hahaha!
@UltimateOtaku91 NES was the beast, SNES followed. And 64 wasn't the beast in terms of sold units.
Also: GB was the beast, then GBC was the beast, then GBA was the beast, then DS was the beast with a capital B... see the pattern?
@milvus976578 the handhelds have always been fine apart from the "new" 3ds versions, they were the most pointless upgrade ever.
@milvus976578 Yeah 64 was a good system but compared to what sony did it didnt even come close. Still without the 64 we dont get analog sticks or rumble as a standard. Also fully realised 3d games.
@UltimateOtaku91 They copied the same marketing as a VHS player with the NES. I reckon they'll be fine copying mobile phones this time around. Everyone does it.
I contributed to hardware sales last month with the purchase of a Switch Lite as it fits my style more, and software sales with 3D World!
Wait..so the Switch already did 155 million?
@Socar that's wii's total worldwide sales, this article is just about the switch's USA sales
@UltimateOtaku91 I think it was more the N64 that flopped after the successful SNES, and the GC following on from that trend. The GC fixed many of the N64 problems, but still flopped largely because of how Nintendo let its competitors take over in the previous gen.
@UltimateOtaku91 Also ‘dollar sales’ it’s revenue
I'm a broken record at this point but all these numbers won't change the Switch being treated like the red headed step child. Little by little though I believe developers and publishers are starting to give it a second look. Still though...So Far, So Good...So What!
@UltimateOtaku91 I'd say the new 3ds was my favorite refresh tbh (well, depending on if you call the gbc a refresh). Eye tracking 3d made 3d actually fun to have on, the OS speedup was much appreciated, better battery life, and it actually made a number of games perform better.
I think Nintendo can follow this hybrid concept for a bit. It doesn’t look like its competitors are interested, so unlike the old days when they lost the tech arms race, they’ve got a corner of the console industry to itself.
But obviously it’s not Nintendo’s style to just keep iterating. It’s done it from time-to-time (NES to SNES, GB to GBA, DS to 3DS), but never for too long.
@link3710 tbh I noticed after the "new" 3ds releases the newer first party games didn't have the 3d mechanic, also the amount of games that used the upgraded hardware was so small, like 4 games I believe
Don’t like $ sales rankings. Not when consoles on the list can vary by 100s of dollars. Thought the same thing when I read PS5 became the fastest selling console in the US and it was dibe by $
@Socar it's just dollar sales not unit sales.
Daaaw that is awesome ^3^ <3
No surprise. For once they got the hardware and marketing right and allied it with a shedload of quality games.
Awesome News! Nintendo Switch is Number 1.
+1 to Nintendo. Well deserved rewards. A great concept! A great console! A great execution!
@GrailUK (It’s a VCR just FYI.)
@BlubberWhale You know what I meant lol
no suprise here, Switch must be around 80/90 milions consoles sold with Animal Crossing New Horizons outsold Mario Kart 8Deluxe or close to become the Switch best/highest selling Switch game.
SWITCH IS NOW NINTENDO'S SECOND BEST-SELLING SYSTEM
IN THE US
In "Tracked History"
based on "total lifetime dollar sales"
Any more caveats and we would have been verging into NintenDOOMED territory. 😉
And still no folders
My favorite console of all time.
@UltimateOtaku91 I'd also say N3DS was a great upgrade, with the adjusting 3D and extra buttons (of which the second analog was simply bad... Sadly, as it could've been great), and I seem to remember being able to pause a game, going to the home menu, looking up a walkthrough on youtube, and resuming the game. Which I still miss on the Switch. Just like self-adjusting 3D, but yeah, it's not a 3DS...
I'm not surprised. The Switch's sales have been high, especially during the pandemic, so I always thought it would happen eventually.
@Medic_Alert Agreed. Great idea, but they definitely cheaped out and cut a few corners. I’m fully expecting the revision/successor to have a noticeably more premium look and feel... even if only slightly. (Otherwise I may feel just disappointed enough to wait for whatever comes after.)
@GrailUK Wow, you’re a true sport, thanks for not laying into me and just laughing it off. I meant no harm, so happy you didn’t get too annoyed lol. And yes, I was just being a turd! 😆
They will take over the Wii if they keep popping out games, currently there's nothing confirmed in 2021 that will sell consoles.....
@UltimateOtaku91 I would argue that in hindsight that the N64 was also a flop when compared to the SNES.
Nintendo's stubborn refusal to move past carts cost them third party support and opened the door for Sony to dominate the generation with the PS1.
Plus, compared to the SNES or Gamecube many of the games have aged poorly and that controller was awful
@SenseiDje
Amazing isn’t it? Putting me off buying digital games now
Switch Pro will be absolutely insane.
By dollar amount is such a dumb metric.
The N64 didn't sell too badly compared to the SNES... in the US. It just massively flopped in Japan at a time when the most successful games in the industry were Japanese.
@Caryslan
It definitely was a flop. I loved it at the time but it was a big drop off for Nintendo in terms of sales and bad for third party relations.
Before the Switch, Nintendo was practically on life support. I really wanted them to succeed with the Switch, I was a fan and I loved my Wii U.
Since on the games front, Switch is primarily a Wii U port machine (or at least for me and on the first party front), I feel burned, and I feel less and less sympathy for Nintendo. I'm considering an XBox + GamePass as my next primary platform, with which MS is giving tremendous value. Nintendo is basically the exact opposite: milking gamers as much as possible with the least possible effort. Full price lazy re-releases with minimum added value, but just a tiny little bit content or improvement added to the games so that people who played them on the Wii U can feel left out. Honestly, Nintendo is saying f*** you to people who stayed with them in the mess that was the Wii U. I'm replying f*** you to Nintendo.
@gergelyv I didn’t have a Wii U so I’m here for the ports but I’m actually considering a second console for the first time ever as the XBox subscription is just such good value..
@electrolite77
Exactly. Such a poor support doesn’t deserve my digital wallet...
The Switch will eventually become the best-selling videogame console of all time.
@quigtendo Yeah, I guess that you are a more typical customer, and it makes financial sense for Nintendo to cater to you and not me.
On the longer term, being an ***** to your most loyal fans, those who were with you in the hardest if times, might also bite back somewhat. Again, my key point is that I have simply lost most of my sympathy for them.
There is a longer term effect from current decisions. I feel that part of the success for the PS4 was due to PlayStation giving all they got to turn around problems with the PS3, and then making it go out with a bang, with the likes of Last of Us at the end of the lifecycle of PS3. It's about gaining goodwill. On the other hand, MS is still suffering from some incompetent decisions long ago, even if they are really really trying hard to please gamers. The platform is not just about the hardware and the games. It's about what people think. And I think the Nintendo are behaving as a**holes... towards Wii U owners at least.
@gergelyv if you can’t have backwards compatibility then I love the ports, because the Wii U did have a disproportionate amount of good games for its rubbish sales. But the ports should be peppered throughout new first party or major third party releases.. the Wii U was the first Nintendo console I missed since the SNES and I feel like if I hadn’t missed it I would be so bitter.. I listen to loads of Nintendo podcasts so it’s quite clear that the fan base is a bit fed up of ports and it’s kind of dampening my enjoyment of the era
Wow, Switch had its best sales month ever in a February? This is why I don't see a Switch Pro or new model coming out soon...
@UltimateOtaku91 Nah, plenty of games used the upgrade, only a few were only playable with it. Notably, all the Pokemon games play better (even those from before the system released), Hyrule Warriors, and basically any game that had slowdown on the OG 3DS. The issue with 3D was more after the 2DS came out but... yeah that wasn't long after the new 3ds. Still better for the 3ds games that did use it though.
The Wii sold well due to the Wii controller. I remember being really disappointed with Nintendo for not releasing a current gen system like Sony and Microsoft but I'll admit the Wii controller was fun to use in games.
@gergelyv
I honestly don’t get this mindset. I had a Wii U and don’t feel personally offended that they’ve rereleased some of the games on a system where they have a chance of selling. Maybe I’d be annoyed if it was all they were putting out but of 59 games Nintendo have published on Switch, 12 are on Wii U. Then there are hundreds of other third party games that weren’t on Wii U. The crossover between the two is pretty small.
@TheWingedAvenger
That's a bit much, I'd say. It could definitely surpass the Wii, but it's pitted against bigger successes like the Game Boy, Nintendo DS, and the PlayStation 1, 2, and 4. ESPECIALLY the PS2.
That's really impressive and well deserved. The Switch is quickly becoming my favorite gaming platform of all time and I just love the hybrid concept as a whole.
Nice. It is currently one of my favorite systems released. I have been playing the heck out of Super Mario Maker 2!
Switch is my favorite console to date. And I've played every major console from NES to Switch, Nintendo, Sega, Sony and MS. Handheld and home console. With the only exceptions being Sega Saturn and PS Vita. I didn't know the former existed and I didn't have the money for the former nor did I have any friends who owned one.
@UltimateOtaku91
I agree with your general point that Nintendo tends to screw up their follow-up to a successful system.
With that said, I fund it funny that you consider the 64 a beast. I consider it a flop after the successful SNES. SNES was the best selling console of its generation, emerging victorious after some fierce competition from the mighty Genesis. The SNES also had fantastic third party support.
The N64 on the other hand got its butt kicked by the PS1, which outsold it by around 3 to 1. The N64 also had terrible third party support.
Don't get me wrong, the N64 had some great games, but it definitely didn't feel like a 'beast' in the late 90's.
No Surprises here....anyone could see in less then 4 years was enough to say it.
@UltimateOtaku91
Yeah well, I don't think it has anything to do with them. The GameCube was an absolute Beast as well. Pound-for-pound was one of the better machines on the market for sure. The Xbox is had better shaders, but it threw up way more polygons with something like that when reading the comparisons. You can't always account for trending taste and fickle gamers all the time
@ModdedInkling
Well to be fair the ps2 also was everybody's go to cheap DVD player. Not to mention the repurchases from the disc read errors, chewed up disk and everything else. People always gave the 360 grief but gave the faulty ps ones & twos a pass
Yes I have, but not in the US. Finally got myself a Switch, and I thought it should be a cool one, so I got the Mario Red and Blue one.
Gonna play so much Shin Megami Tensei on it.
@gameboy1975 ps1 was a cheap cd player, ps2 was a cheap dvd player. Ps3 was a cheap (ish) bluray player (and still failed pretty badly) 360 had rrod repurchases. Wii was a cheap Netflix machine.
Switch, ds, and ps4 are really the only top selling systems just for playing games since the Gameboy.
@UltimateOtaku91 it's a handheld though. The handhelds go from strength to strength with the exception of ds to 3ds where 3ds was still a strong seller just not as amazing as ds.
Switch is a wonderful console apart from its flaws. I just hope that the next console will have backward compatibility with Switch.
@electrolite77
Hard to take someone seriously when part of their argument includes phrases like "f*** Nintendo".
Now imagine if they took all that money and actually made some NEW games for the system.
Instead of 5 a year maybe they could do 7 or 8?
@timp29 That was my first question too. I'm not sure that dollar sales is all that useful anyway, give me actual units.
@quigtendo ah but do you need the console..currently enjoying gamepads on my android tv
@gergelyv
You are so RIGHT lol. Nintendo was indeed on life support before switch because of WiiUs poor sales....but what bugs me is that the ONLY reason Nintendo made it thru that period was THE 3DS!. But now that Switch is clearly a MEGA success, Nintendo kicks it's savior console to the curb despite the fact that they could still EASILY make $ off it, they just don't want to for some reason. Imagine if they made a Switch model with a flip down second touchscreen, make it able to play DS/3DS games in handheld OR TV mode (by using a wireless interact to the dock and use system as the second DS/3ds screen). Now add on ability to play WiiU titles too (digital copies of course). WHO wouldn't drool at the sight of that? Not Nintendo apparently...
@romanista I didn’t even know that was a thing.. in the market for a new tv anyway.... hmmm 🤔
This is all good, but some of these records just seem arbitrary "The best selling console in any February on record!"
@Munchlax
Not forgetting Nintendo forgoing standards.
Cartridge, Mini dvd, Nintendo where looking at ways to fail.
And people really believe that Nintendo is going to spike this momentum with the sudden release of an upgraded model?
Congrats to the big N
Man.... if only they'd just release these few games people REALLY want, they can probably secure the best console of all time sales wise from Sony with a great catelog.... Those games include, anything f-zero related, Metroid prime 4 (like damn for real you announced this 4 years ago), Bayonetta 3 (see previous), The mother series.... and a Pipe dream of mine (a new pilorwings game).
Super Nintendo Switch please.
Suck on that Nintendo haters!
Problem is it takes Switch in less then 4 years for something taking a lifespan to achieve those numbers. This is what alot of people forget the record smashing run to get those records in such a short time.
@quigtendo It is, had to sideload the gamepass android app on it, but that's easily done..
(and retroarch with all it's emulation goodness workslovely too)
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