Nintendo Switch Has Now Sold More Than 20 Million Units In Japan

It’s a total success story which leads me to believe that the next Switch model will simply be a hardware refresh ( better screen etc. ).
There’s no way right now that Nintendo would bring out next generation hardware when the Switch has such a massive user base.

Nintendo will continue to dominate Japan for many...many years, considering Sony is now an American-based company and MS has basically near-zero presence in Japan.

Interesting how Mario Kart is the best selling Switch game worldwide but only 5th in Japan.

And people really think Nintendo is going to undercut this success with a brand new upgraded Switch that make all their existing customers feel like early adopter chumps.

Edit: And for the all the people down thread giving me grief with nonsense like "Are you not familiar with the DS to DS Lite to DS XL, etc.?" Those were simply variations of a console that didn't change the underlying capabilities, unlike what people expect from the Switch Pro which, if rumors are to be believed, will feature substantially more powerful hardware and new capabilities. To put this into perspective, the 3DS, which had more power and new capabilities, was released a full 7-years after the DS. The Switch has only been on the market for 4.

By 2022 it will have surpassed the 3DS. Crazy.

@Mountain_Man What...?? Did the people feel like that when the PS4 Pro or the Xbox One X were released...?? I sure didn´t!

@Magician What do u mean...Sony's headquarter is still in Japan and their key peoples are still Japanese..

@Dogorilla and no BotW or Odyssey in this top5

@HamatoYoshi a revision on par with the 2019 upgrade and maaaaybe Vita Slim is the only thing that sounds believable by default, although the recent component stock challenges have dampened even that probability. With Nintendo themselves voicing limited confidence about meeting demand for the existing models, many expect their potential "reserves" to be a make-or-break factor even in this regard, but how much would the company have stockpiled for something that Insiderland claims to be only going to assembly lines this very summer?

That said, it's not like the more likely Gen 10 successor in a few years would need to be something completely different either. Beyond its legitimate (if less than impactful) distinct functionality, 3DS was always essentially "Nintendo DS Advance", and I can't mean this as anything but a compliment. Going back to any of the separate formats Switch so gloriously amalgamated could feel like an evolutionary step back, but the way Nintendo has preserved most of their past experience breakthroughs (dual screens may be no more, but touch and motion controls are still around, not to mention longtime industry staples like button layouts and analogue sticks) nurtures relatively reasonable assumptions that Switch's successor may have A LOT in common with what Switch looks and works like. This is also why backward compatibility is expected to become a thing again next gen.

@NingenSama Incorrect, Sony's main base of operations is in California, hence they're an American company. Get onboard with that.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-moves-playstation-headquarters-to-california-1453794813

@Magician Depends. Sony Music still has its main branch in Japan but has an American branch in New York. But what you're likely talking about is Sony Interactive Entertainment, the division that runs the PlayStation. SIE moved to California a few years ago.

@Magician that's playstation part of them tho....u were talking about sony as whole

@Narrator1 - Fair point. However, the Playstation arm of Sony's business is Sony's second most profitable division, with more revenue generated than their music and movie divisions combined. Page F-6 of Sony's financial report.

https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/19q4_sony.pdf

@NingenSama - We are on a video game website talking about video games, are we not?

@Mountain_Man were you not around in the "DS/3dS/DSlite/DSxl/2DS/Ds" but with a strap on it times??

@NingenSama Got me there. But you'd be surprised how many people get them mixed up. There was a minor incident elsewhere when some console warrior took issue when Aniplex (owned by Sony Music) started advertising through Fate/Grand Order the Switch port of Fate/Extella.

Japan's best-selling game systems:
1) NDS: 32.99 million
2) GB/GBC: 32.47 million
3) 3DS: 25.26 million
4) PS2: 21.45 million
5) NSW: 20.02 million

For a company as stories as Nintendo, its a trip to think about their rocky console history.

@Mountain_Man,

Yes delusional at best. mid generation refresh if anything.

With the Switch's ongoing success, Nintendo will not put out a "higher end" Switch. Not on this year, not on the next. They'll just release a new console in three years. This latest sells milestone proves this once again. Facts instead of rumors people.

Isn't that like 100% of young people in Japan?

@Magician Yeah but still

@Dezzy Hiroshi Matsuyama forom CyberConnect2 asked elementary schoolers what game system they owned and 99% percent of them said Switch, 90% said Smartphones (including Ipad), 10% said PS4:
https://twitter.com/PIROSHI_CC2/status/1224945636669190145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224945636669190145%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.siliconera.com%2Fcyberconnect2-president-hiroshi-matsuyama-asks-students-about-consoles-and-manga%2F

That's fantastic, I had a feeling the Switch will overtake the PS2 lifetime worldwide hardware sale by the end of 2024. At this point in time the PS2 would had only sold around 50 million units worldwide. Remember it took the PS2 twelve years on the market to reach that 155 million units sold. Switch could reach or outsold that numbers in just seven years or sooner if sales momentum keeps up.

@Ghost_of_Hasashi,

And the Switch has lots of momentum, that's for sure.

4 yrs going and breaking all other system sales record and yet people still dump on the Switch. Are they so afraid of a small Docking/Portable gaming unit.... OH YES they are....

@NingenSama Sony moved there headquarters to California recently.

This isn't a surprise.

Sony left Japan because Japan's gaming preference started to shift towards portability a long time ago. Sony wanted to focus on console gaming.

Sony's last chance at making a product that would have kept them relevant in Japan was the Vita, which actually was fairly successful in Japan but it seems that Sony had nothing but contempt for having to cater to portability in order to remain relevant in Japan, so they essentially killed the Vita with next to no effort in making it work.

As a nation Japan had moved away from console gaming even before the Wii U was released, they actually make decent mobile games too, unlike the pay to win junk we get here.

Sony saw bigger benefits in sticking with global trends and making bigger and better console gaming experiences with more emphasis on graphics and frame rate.

This has left the Japanese market wide open for Nintendo. I mean... Until recently even the 3DS was outselling the PS4 in Japan.

This is such an impressive feat. For a modern console to sell 20 million units in Japan. I have a strong feeling that it is going to reach 30 million sold in Japan alone. Hopefully it will surpass the Nintendo DS total units sold in Japan when it's all said and done.

@Razer Sony saw bigger benefits in sticking with global trends and making bigger and better console gaming experiences with more emphasis on graphics and frame rate.
That is the realm of PC Gaming Desktop/Laptop Rigs and those put those consoles to shame. They are competing with something that can out FPS and Display hz that neither xbox/psx can compete on. What xbox has a Windows PC Gaming System can do. If they thought they knew gamers on PC's they clearly don't from this move.

@SwitchForce this move was idiotic on more than just that level but we'll have to wait and see how it all plays out for them.

Big numbers but still broken controls. Can't believe Nintendo is not fixing the issues of the Joy-Cons even after being in law-suits in some countries.

It's the upgrade the system needs most.

@SwitchForce,

Totally agree, some are just hating and have been claiming that the sales would fall off a cliff since launch.

Switch Pro will be like New 3ds. It will run same games slightly better (like no stutter in Pokemon Ultrasun). Maybe it will be able run some games at 60 fps and slightly better resolution. Its nothing to do with 3ds vs ds

@johnvboy they need to see the real gaming scene and it's not just someone in their parents basement gaming. Switch is all over the place in age, genre and locations. And the portable factor just upends all other non-moving consoles and anyone else coming will have harder time replicating this switch. This was a huge risk for Nintendo to do this but knowing Nintendo they took the Risk and paying off in record console and games sales. Also the Amiibo plays into this as well as tangible connection to the Switch something other consoles haven't been able tp replicate. So this adds another reason why Nintendo Innovation just helps them more.

@SwitchForce,

So true, but alas a lot of the core minorities will never see this, and keep on acting as if they are the majority.