Switch Console Sales Hit 89 Million, Has Now Outsold PS3 And Xbox 360

The OLED model will continue to drive sales, as will the high profile Pokemon games towards the end of 2021 and early 2022.

They're setting records but somehow "sales are dwindling" lmao... OK!

Is Nintendo Switch Lite included in the figures above? Either way, do we know how many copies have been sold?

@Rika_Yoshitake,

Sales slump though, not really taking into account Nintendo traditionally sells most of it's hardware in the busy holiday season, and Animal crossing got delayed to the first part of 2020, thus pushing the hardware numbers higher that they usually would be.

Starting to hit that plateau, but it still has another 3 years ahead of it at least before Switch 2 comes in to ride the tide

So the Wii will most certainly be overtaken this year and the Gameboy should now be passed - whether next year or in the “budget zone” of 2023.

The DS is probably uncatchable though.

Remember in the early when everyone laughed when an analyst suggested that Nintendo would sell 100 million Switches?

Wii numbers are as good as in the bag, not improbably by next calendar year, let alone fiscal one. Game Boy ones have estimatedly long been surpassed but we merry folks still stick to the "Game Boy family of systems" in the same damn sentence as "Nintendo DS family of systems". Sure, what is Color but an equivalent of Lite and DSi now? /)_-)

Seriously, why not lump the backward compatible Advance together while we're at it? And by extension, NDS itself because most of the models played GBA cartridges. And then, all 3DS models still play DS ones! Everything portable on Nintendo front between Game & Watch (assuming we don't count Gallery series😜) and Switch was a Game Boy - and its sales will forever tower above the rest of the console landscape! FOREVER!😈😈😈

Once the Switch Pro releases those numbers will pick up...........😜

❗I think it will either SLIGHTLY beat or SLIGHTLY be under the Wii sales but it wont beat the GB or DS sales, even with the OLED model coming out or new Games yet to be released.

If the Switch really is halfway through its life, I can't see another 50 million sales in four to five years (to beat the DS).

I have a feeling that Nintendo will push the Switch family of devices to a 10 to 14-year lifespan, like they did with the original GameBoy (1989-2003).
Proof being that they intend on prolonging the usual life cycle of their system with the Switch

@Flashlink99 "10 to 14-year lifespan, like they did with the original GameBoy (1989-2003)"

I rest my case.💀

FYQ1 Switch sales figures:
> FY2017 Q1: 1.96 million units of hardware + 8.13 million units of software
> FY2018 Q1: 1.89 million units of hardware + 17.97 million units of software
> FY2019 Q1: 2.04 million units of hardware + 22.62 million units of software
> FY2020 Q1: 5.67 million units of hardware + 50.44 million units of software
> FY2021 Q1: 4.45 million units of hardware + 45.29 million units of software

FY2021 Q1 figures were down compared to FY2020 Q1 due to the end of stay-at-home lockdowns and the lack of an Animal Crossing-sized juggernaut. The Switch has also entered its 5th year on the market, which is when products typically begin to experience decline (sometimes significantly so).

With that being said, Switch sales last quarter were still extremely strong and are way above the equivalent FY2017/2018/2019 Q1 sales.

@Thrallherd Yes, Switch Lite sales are included in the overall figures. I’m sure Nintendo will have a breakdown somewhere!

No surprise that sales are slowing down, especially given that there are new home consoles out to compete for shoppers’ attention. Those Switch numbers are holding up pretty well, considering. Game Boy family sales are definitely doable. I think DS is just a step too far - unless Nintendo just doesn’t release a new console for another eight years.

I think the switch has a reasonable line up for this holiday but not sure if any of the games are system sellers.
Crusin blast - HOTD - Metroid 5 - pokemon remake D&P - SMT5

@westman98 That's a really good post. As you said, the numbers last year would have been skewed due to lockdown. Q1 being more than double any previous year is immense.

Switch will finish at around 120 million units. Another 30 million isn't hard to imagine with an inevitable price cut down the line.

The OLED will help them go passed the Wii by March 2022 for sure. I don't see why people are so confident in many more years for the Switch though. As gaming hardware, it's already really starting to struggle with performance, and Nintendo has already see how a console like the Wii can go from record breaking sales to very suddenly drying up. There's not too much else they can release that's going to draw in new customers like Animal Crossing did. Yeah, there's two Pokemon games on the way but the first Pokemon gen released on new hardware is always the one that sells the most (and boosts hardware the most). S&M sold less than X&Y, Black and White sold less than Diamond and Pearl etc. Gen 8 sold over 20 million copies, so it's not like there's a ton of Pokemon fans out there that didn't get a Switch yet and are waiting for Gen 4 remakes.

Q1 2020 was utterly unique and a perfect storm with global lockdowns and Animal Crossing being released. Even the price of second-hand Wii's were through the roof during that period!

I wouldn't read into the 'slump' for that reason, it's still an absolute juggernaut and it's still more than double the next strongest Q1.

@Nin10dood,

When the OLED releases there will be a boost.

@Peach64 ,

Easy, the Wii dried up because it was mainly bought by casuals, who simply moved on the cheaper tablets and smartphones, this was why the Wii U failed.

This is why we won't get a Switch Pro - Why bother when the base unit is selling so well.

I think certain software will still lead to sales increases like Animal Crossing did. We should still see a balance of rises and falls rather than just a downwards trend from here.

@MarioBrickLayer
A game system selling 5+ million units during the April-June quarter will probably never happen ever again. Outside of the Switch last year, only the NDS and Wii have ever accomplished that feat.

As a point of comparison, here is what the PS4 sold during each FYQ1:
> FY2014 Q1: 2.8 million units of hardware
> FY2015 Q1: 2.9 million units of hardware
> FY2016 Q1: 3.5 million units of hardware
> FY2017 Q1: 3.3 million units of hardware
> FY2018 Q1: 3.2 million units of hardware
> FY2019 Q1: 3.2 million units of hardware
> FY2020 Q1: 1.9 million units of hardware
> FY2021 Q1: 0.5 million units of hardware

And here is PS5:
> FY2021 Q1: 2.3 million units of hardware

@westman98,

Exactly a once in a lifetime sales feat, but just because Nintendo have not managed to replicate it the Switch is doomed.

@westman98 So this years (not last) Switch Q1 sales are better than ANY Q1 the PS4 had, which is really impressive too.

I think it will become their biggest selling console eventually. Just let's not all get carried away and think they are doomed if it doesn't happen in the next 2 years. A slump after a year of such outlandish achievement is a problem I am sure they welcome lol. Always looking forward to what Nintendo do next, but the Covid situation in Japan doesn't look very good at the moment

I wouldn't call selling 4.45 million units in Q1, far more than any recent console in the last 9 years, a 'slump', it's a very impressive number, so you know, take your fking hat off

Yeah. "slump" is not exactly the right word.

Sales are still incredible - it's just that 2020 saw a truly unique, once-in-a-generation situation that is unlikely to be replicated in any of our lifetimes.

I think that Nintendo will consider Switch a failure in the end. It's important to remember that Switch is supposed to be both a handheld and a home console, the idea being that Nintendo can consolidate both into one device, but presumably still retain both their handheld and home console numbers combined. Considering that lifetime sales of 3DS are at 75 million units, the Switch hasn't sold well enough to account for both markets. I doubt the aim was to ditch their home console audience, so they may rethink their approach in response to these numbers.

@WhiteUmbrella
Switch was about ~500,000 units away from outselling the 3DS + Wii U combined as of June 2021. It has almost certainly outsold 3DS + Wii U combined by now and is well on its way to selling 100+ million units by the end of the year.

Switch software sales are ~140 million copies above combined 3DS + Wii U software sales.

Incredibly impressive considering they've yet to give it a price cut. How far were the DS and Wii into their life cycles before a price reduction?

Impressive.

The "slump" has always been from a statistically very high numbers anyway, I guess. So the actually numbers measured have been high.

@WhiteUmbrella,

Not sure you know what you are saying here, the Switch has got a lot of sales left in it, an up to now no price cut, or mid generation revision.

Nintendo will look at the last generation as it's starting point and the Wii U and 3DS sold around 90 million consoles, and you have to add the cost of developing two individual consoles, the Switch is going to easily better this, with an amazing software ratio to boot.

Of course is you use the Wii and DS with it's 255 million consoles sold then it's not as good, but to be honest that would shame every generation from every manufacturer, and the chances of striking gold with two consoles like that would be nearly impossible.

And people thought the Deck was the Switch Killer...? I imagine a spike when OLED hits market + BoTW 2 dropping. There has not even been a price cut lol.

And now the Switch has outsold the PS3 and 360 and in such a quick timeframe at that. Won't be long until it surpasses the Wii either. What a success the Switch turned out to be!

@johnvboy The Wii U sold 13 million, a catastrophic failure. A combination of Wii and DS would be crazy numbers sure, but I'm pretty confident Nintendo would want bigger numbers or they've just dropped an entire home console audience.

@WhiteUmbrella,

Of course they will want as many sales as they can, but as far as I was aware the Switch is still selling, perhaps wait for it's conclusion before stating what Nintendo would want.

@Peach64 as long as it has support it will sell and Next year you already have announced a new style Pokémon game and sequels to Zelda and splatoon on top of anything still to reveal (DK, Mario, MK, etc...)

Yeah like most, I think the Switch will pass the Wii by the end of Q4. After that it really is anybodies guess. Will Nintendo stick with the Switch or will they look to slowly move onto the next iteration?

We've already had a handheld specific model. The OLED model is cool enough but it's not enough to get me to to upgrade. A 4K version (even just upscaling) however would have been, could it still come?

Otherwise without any new hardware revisions you are really just depending on the games to bring in new users rather than repeat purchasers.

We know BOTW2 is coming but there are plenty of big hitters Nintendo may choose to hold off on now until 'Switch 2' or whatever comes next.

A new Mario Kart, new 3D Mario, Metroid Prime 4, Fire Emblem I'm sure are all in the works but where they end up will probably dictate how much further the Switch can go.

@WhiteUmbrella loooool, this is the funniest joke I ever read in my life... Not only switch is still one of the best selling consoles with 52 weeks on the market, it has not yet slowdown and regardless if it stopped right now it would already be very successfully in terms of hardware as software

Sales of Nintendo platforms after ~18 fiscal quarters on the market:
> NES: Unreliable data
> GB: ~30 million units
> SNES: ~36 million units
> N64: ~30 million units
> GBA: 67.77 million units
> GCN: 20.61 million units
> NDS: 101.78 million units
> Wii: 86.01 million units
> 3DS: 53.06 million units
> Wii U: 13.56 million units (discontinued by this point)
> Switch: 89.05 million units

Switch is Nintendo's 2nd fastest-selling game platform of all time, behind NDS.

Switch is the 2nd fastest-selling game platform of all time in general, behind NDS.

So, it's Nintendo's second best selling "home" console, but, it's also one of the first times the sales basically combine for both home and handheld systems, which makes it quite a bit less than how many systems Nintendo sold in the SNES/GB or N64/GBA or Wii/DS eras. I've probably put the wrong home/handheld combos but you get my point.

@Balta666 the article literally states that sales have slowed, so you're saying that the article is wrong? Where do you get your competing figures from? The idea that Nintendo would want a system that accounts for both home and handheld console sales to equal the combined figure for strong sales of both isn't hard to understand, unless you believe that NIntendo consolidating handheld and home console development into one department was them conceding the home console market.

@WhiteUmbrella It's not actually how it works. Nintendo has already stated, including in this financial report, that Switch has already surpassed its expectations. That's why its share price has risen substantially and it's profits have, too. It's already not a failure.

But regardless, focused development on one platform allows for decreased marketing and manufacturing costs, increased engagement and increased digital sales, and thus increased revenue and profit.

What's crucial is user growth mixed with increasing spend-per-user. Both of which Switch has already achieved. There were 150m DS owners and 100m Wii Owners, but that doesn't mean there were 250m Nintendo players. The cross-over between those mediums will have been significant.

Therefore, adding the numbers of handhelds to home consoles from previous generations doesn't create a new target for Switch to hit.

How you can call selling that much a slump is beyond me. That’s still bloody fantastic.

I don't think you can add homeconsole and portable of that generation and claim the switch isn't doing well as not exceeding combined figures. Yes it's both but times have changed the DS massive success wouldn't happen these days too much competition from smart phones etc.
It's beating 3ds plus wii u, gamecube plus gba it will most likely beat too.
Wii and Ds it won't but was a very different time of causal gamers buying consoles which has pasted.

@WhiteUmbrella the sales have slowdown in comparison with last year when lockdown started and animal crossing exploded. If you compare it with any other 2nd quarter is at least more than double...
Also you are comparing end sales of all other generations with the still live and kicking switch ones... There is nothing that you are talking that is not absolute ***** trolling I am afraid

@johnvboy The Switch is finished, too little too late.

@Jey887 absolutely agree. In South Africa the current Switch model has already been reduced in price by almost 15% in preparation for the OLED launch. If the world follows suite I believe we could see a spike in sales of the current model.

Once the OLED model releases a large number of people will upgrade and the second hand market will be flooded with the previous model so picking up a used one should, in theory, be cheaper for people. I’ve seen Switch Lites on Facebook Marketplace going for £100 which is an absolute bargain.

@LeighDapa To say it won't beat the DS seems reasonable (I agree with you), but surprised you think it might not catch the Wii (or finish there about). 12 million more to catch the Wii, would have thought it was nailed on to do that.

@liveswired,

You are clearly insane, and out of touch with reality, as so many are on internet gaming forums.

Nintendo is clearly doomed now that its only console has sold only 90M hardware and 600M+ software in its first 52months

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/08/nintendo_to_spend_up_to_usd900_million_to_buy_back_its_own_shares

@westman98 nice chart. Interesting that at this stage the Wii only went on to sell another 14 million - must have started to plateau at this point in its life. Judging by current Switch sales it could go on to beat it by some margin.

Will stick my neck out and guess at 125-130 million. Could be completely wrong of course, not really tried to plot it out.

Thought I remember Nintendo mentioning they were expecting a slump in the coming quarters with supply shortages. You can still easily get a Switch, but they mentioned they are not immune to the supply shortages facing the consoles, smartphone, tablet and PC manufacturers. Still some pretty strong numbers and I suspect it's going to be on the hunt for the DS numbers with the Switch 2 coming in 2023.

It will be interesting when Nintendo fills out the Switch family with more devices too.

Possible Switch Family
Lite (upgraded, rumble and bigger LED screen) -> (Entry hybrid, original specs) Switch OLED -> ("New version", OLED and upgraded specs) Switch 2 Hybrid -> ("Switch Pro", Shield TV-like) Switch 2 TV-only

@Rubashov
Wii sold just 1.36 million units of hardware and 20.72 million units of software during it's 18th fiscal quarter (vs 4.45 million of hardware and 45.29 million units of software for Switch). It was in very steep decline.

I'm left wondering what Nintendo has planned for after the Switch. Will they make something entirely new without the hybrid functionality? Or will they ride high on their laurels and expand on the Switch concept? We all know what happened when they tried to ride the Wii train past the Wii but the fact that they consolidated their handheld and console divisions is strong evidence for an expansion. But they're also wacky and experiment like crazy, oftentimes with no rhyme or reason. They're a wild card for sure, looking forward to seeing what they cook up next.

Can't see it beating the DS. PS5 has good momentum and if Gamepass gets more popular then the new consoles will start to eat into the appetite for switch as they become more readily available. It should comfortably beat the Wii though. As long as the games keep coming, then selfishly I don't really care where it ends up.

@WhiteUmbrella You'd have a point if the console and handheld markets were completely separate entities. But they're not. The crossover between Nintendo console owners and Nintendo handheld owners is/was without a doubt massive. You can't add the two lifetime sales numbers together to get a number of total individual customers, it doesn't work that way.

I'm starting to think Switch will not hit 100 million by the end of December this year

@Thrallherd Says right at the start of the 2nd paragraph lol

Also I never realised that, until the wii, hardware sales for nintendo were going down gen to gen. They really needed that console!

I don't think is fair to count the Switch Lite in these numbers vs previous consoles, as it is not a "home console."

@Dringo What Nintendo will state publically and what they will state privately are two different things, also I imagine their profit margins must be especially huge, considering how little this generation has relied on internal development and more on ports of older games, predominantly from the Wii U. That can't go on forever, though.

There is naturally a crossover between handheld and home console users, yes. I didn't say that Nintendo should absolutely expect the best case combined, nevertheless the gulf between 250 million and 90 million is not inconsiderable. Nice strawman, though, because I see other Defendos have picked it up and are now repeating it at me lol

I think 4K and exclusive games should be saved for a Switch 2/next-gen, not a Pro.
But to boost sales Nintendo really needs a stronger chip (maybe when they run out of Mariko) that helps FPS of struggling games, while maintaining battery life.

2021 was almost a "cooldown" for Nintendo, so it was understandable why the sales were decreasing - the most we've gotten this year were either re-releases or "remakes" (I don't know what to classify Mario Party as).

In terms of sales, for as long as Nintendo has multiple ambitious games in mind and any more revisions just to convince people to finally buy a Switch, I do believe it'll maybe reach the Game Boy family.

@Bret following this logic, you'd expect Nintendo to have a committed userbase for handheld and home console, yet Wii U only sold 13 million units. How big can this dedicated fanbase really be? It's just as easy to assume from the current numbers, that Nintendo have boosted their handheld user numbers from the 3DS days and all but completely lost their home console userbase. I expect NIntendo knows this to be the case, this would certainly explain why the Switch has had three revisions and yet the biggest gesture they have made to the importance of Switch as a home console to date is swapping a usb port for a LAN one and raising the price by 50$ for the privelege.

@Thrallherd Reaaaaaad.

@WhiteUmbrella Nintendo can't lie to investors. They initially told them they were aiming for 100m lifetime sales, and they're going to exceed that. I was in the room when they told people that

It will be beyond the 100 million units sold by the end of the fiscal year. Hopefully, Metroid Dread will drive huge sales of the OLED, but the Pokémon games will surely be great system sellers.

@Edu23XWiiU @Divinebovine I made sure to CTRL+F "Lite" before asking. 0 result back then.

@WhiteUmbrella it’s not as simple as saying that there’s a “Nintendo home console user base” and a “Nintendo handheld user base” and that one growing cannibalises the other.

Many of the 90 million Switch owners have never previously owned a Nintendo console. Many of the “Nintendo handheld user base” who owned a DS are (sadly) literally dead. It’s always about putting out a compelling product that draws in new audiences.

Many Wii owners are still “Nintendo home console players” - they still play it, it still works.

@WhiteUmbrella The flaw in your argument is that you are using total handheld + home console hardware sales as a measure of success. It isn’t that clear-cut - when considering the success of a console, one must consider both hardware and software sales (with digital software sales generating much higher profit margins than physical sales, and software in general being far more profitable than the console it is played on), and costs such as distribution, R&D, marketing, manufacturing, development costs, and many other factors. Operating profit, for example, is a far more reliable metric in this case.

For reference, in the fiscal year ending in March 2021, Nintendo recorded its highest ever operating profit with ¥640.63 billion/£4.21 billion. Previously, their highest operating profit had been recorded in 2009 (which was the very peak of the Wii/DS era) for a total of ¥555.26 billion/£3.65 billion.

Now, not every fiscal year during the Switch’s lifespan is going to be as profitable, but those numbers should give you an idea of just how much revenue this console generation is bringing in for Nintendo, regardless of the total number of Switch consoles currently out in the wild.

It’ll most likely overtake the Wii. The fact that it has already surpassed the classic trio of NES, SNES and N64 is already impressive enough, given the lasting cultural impacts of those systems. Not sure it’ll make the Game Boy, but considering the GB line ran for over 10 years it does have plenty of time to catch up.

I still hate that so much of its success was fueled by that horrible, horrible Animal Crossing game somehow dominating the market, but at the same time I love to see that Iwata's final console can send him out on such a high note.

Guess it's a slump cause now most customers are waiting for the Switch OLED model instead especially those who were planning to get a Switch Lite but would rather get the new model for the bigger and better screen and more storage with the bonus of being able to play it on the TV this time.

@WhiteUmbrella You've lost the thread completely. You have no idea what you're talking about any more. The Wii U having low sales numbers has nothing to do with whether console owners also own handhelds. I'm not talking about individual sales numbers of any console.

I'm talking about you saying the switch will be "considered a failure" because it didn't reach sales numbers equal to adding the console market and the handheld market together. That's not how it works because they aren't two mutually exclusive sets of customers. There's a lot of crossover.

And console revisions truly have nothing to do with this. If anything, the more successful a console is, the more revisions it gets! The Wii U didn't get any. Neither did the Gamecube. But the Wii, DS, 3DS, and Switch have all received multiple. Are you trolling?

@johnvboy It must be a sad existence, to wake up in the morning and the first thing on your mind is to come to a site about something you clearly dislike just to let people know you think it's garbage and brag about you've got the best telly in the world. I'm sure his mum is proud of her little soldier.

@Thrallherd yes, the Switch Lite is included in those numbers. Go to the official Nintendo website in their "financial/business" section on the bottom of their site until you find the break down. Sometimes you can even download Excel files that further break it down. They also have a business focused Twitter account @NintendoCoLTD.

If you scroll through the first 8 Tweets, you will find some links to their data.

@Bret I've "lost the thread"? Are you just setting up a strawman or did you not really read what I wrote? The revisions were not referenced by me as a measure of success, they were referenced as proof that Nintendo hasn't treated the Switch as equally home console and handheld, despite the marketing. I thought it was very clear. Also, including the Wii in your point about revisions seems strange considering the first Wii revision removed the Gamecube functionality and then the Wii mini removed just about everything else that made the console worth buying. They were both downgrades, the Wii mini was a pathetic cash grab and was reviewed widely as such.

Your point about the "crossover", which you aren't the only one to make, doesn't really hold water from a business perspective. 100% crossover would see a company selling half as many units of hardware as previously, and potentially needing to clear double the software on that platform. Of course it's not going to be 100% but consolidating your sales into less sales isn't typically more profitable.

@Jooles_95 Nintendo's operating profit has been boosted by not having to plow so much money into development, with all the Wii U ports and even Wii ports we've been seeing. It can't go on forever, unless Nintendo can just port all the Switch titles to the next console and have their fanbase buy them all again. On second thoughts, if the comment section here is anything to go by, actually they can do that. It can go on forever. hurrah.

@WiltonRoots,

Sounds like the correct interpretation, this whole article is a negative spin of the matter, barely disguised as just giving he facts.

@NEStalgia,

I think you like that Animal crossing game more than you are admitting, that awful Tom Nook putting you into too much negative equity has got you hooked.

Regardless of which Switch model there is only one Model now and the sales are doing far better then previous Console lifeTime sales. That's what people should take from this in 4+ years Switch does what took a LifeSpan for their other consoles to do. But NintenDoomed are so hooked on the numbers forgets those are LifeTime Sales for those devices and Switch is still selling Lite, Switch v2, Switch OLED.

I was wondering what will happen to that "lightning in a bottle" saying people liked throwing around about the Wii before the Switch came out and when the Wii U was on its way out, if the Switch passes the Wii in terms of sales...?

movinggoalposts.gif I suppose.

@WhiteUmbrella It's not my fault you moved the goalposts. You cited the console revisions as a sign of the switch failing. I pointed out the console revisions of the successful systems, and the lack of console revisions of the less successful ones. Whatever point you think you're making "very clear" is obviously not happening seeing everyone's reactions so far.

Regardless of all that, your initial point that Nintendo will "consider the Switch a failure" is just hilarious, plus nothing you've said even supports that point. If consolidating the handheld and console groups is bad for profits, why is Nintendo posting record profits? It's not only hardware sales. There's a ton of savings in R&D, retail costs, and countless other costs that are reduced by only having one console.

@Kilamanjaro I wouldnt say it has that long. 2 tops. I imagine we'll get a Switch successor in 2023

@Bret I have never cited revisions as a reason for a console failing. Just for you, I will quote myself. This time, read it carefully.

"It's just as easy to assume from the current numbers, that Nintendo have boosted their handheld user numbers from the 3DS days and all but completely lost their home console userbase. I expect Nintendo knows this to be the case, this would certainly explain why the Switch has had three revisions and yet the biggest gesture they have made to the importance of Switch as a home console to date is swapping a usb port for a LAN one and raising the price by 50$ for the privelege."

I state quite clearly that I interpret all three revisions catering to handheld as evidence that Nintendo knows the Switch is serving a primarily handheld audience. Either you have poor reading comprehension or you are just trolling.

@WhiteUmbrella I don’t really agree with the statement that it’s just because of ‘all the WiiU and Wii ports’, though. If I’m counting right, we’ve had only 2 Wii ports (Xenoblade, Skyward Sword) and like 10-12 WiiU ones (most of which are really niche, like Tokyo Mirage Sessions or Pikmin 3), which really isn’t that many when you look at the number of first- and second-party games released for the console so far. Most of these also had extra content developed especially for the Switch version (i.e. Bowser’s Fury for 3D World, new story chapters for Xenoblade, etc.), meaning that some considerable development time (and therefore, expense) was needed before release.

On top of that, even though pretty much all these ports sold better on Switch than on the original platform, they still only sold a fraction of the numbers achieved by the top-sellers made exclusively for the new console (with the exception of Mario Kart 8, which is a beast).

I’m sorry, but justifying profits of this magnitude with a handful of lower-effort ports just doesn’t hold up.

@Bret My statement was a qualified statement, not a definite one. It began with "I think", so I'm clearly stating an opinion, I'm not actually stating that Nintendo will consider Switch a failure as an absolute fact. Most of the replies I've had are from people that believe they know for a fact.
My belief is that Nintendo wanted Switch to serve both as handheld and home console equally, and that it wasn't actually just marketing. While it could be argued that Switch is Nintendo's greatest handheld, it's also arguably technically their worst home console. If the aim was to serve both markets, then I don't believe it has or will do that fully, and if that was the aim then it will have failed in this respect regardless of how much money is made.

Add the ds sales to the Wii sales to make it as fair comparison.

@Jooles_95 Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 are both Wii U games, those two are the biggest and fourth best selling titles on Switch, accounting for 60 million units alone.

Switch software update, Nintendo must be pleased, great selling hardware, with good software sales to back it up.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 37.08 million
Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 33.89 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 24.77 million
Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 23.20 million
Pokemon Sword/Shield – 21.85 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 21.40 million
Super Mario Party – 15.72 million
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu / Eevee – 13.57 milion
Splatoon 2 – 12.45 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 11.26 million
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 6.68 million
New Pokemon Snap – 2.07 million
Mario Golf: Super Rush – 1.34 million
Miitopia – 1.04 million

Can't believe some of these games sold so well, you know with all that online and social media backlash from the fans.

@WhiteUmbrella Considering that Breath of the Wild’s performance is awful on the WiiU, I’d argue that it’s more of a Switch game ported to WiiU than the other way around. It’s anything BUT a low-effort port. Besides, it was a simultaneous release - would you say that Fire Emblem Warriors is a port of a 3DS game just because it released on both systems day 1?

And if you read my comment, you’ll see that I had already mentioned MK8D as an outlier among the ports.

Edit: Nintendo’s latest sales report shows that their top-10 games alone have sold 185.19 million copies. BotW and MK8D sales only account for around 30% of that, and none of the other games on that list are ports. Just saying.

We got Metroid dread this year, BOTW 2 & Splatoon 3 next year. Nothing to worry about! Ah... it's good to be a nintendo fan these days

I think when natural comparisons start to happen as they are with the Wii and Switch as sale numbers draw close, having owned both, I will remember the Switch as having a better catalogue in years to come. The Wii was very much the bigger victim of shovelware.

Its guaranteed that Nintendo already have the Switch successor blueprints and in some dev form however they probably dont need to release it for at least another 2-3 years.

Wii's lookin scared of the Switch! Holiday 2021's gonna explode!

There’s going to be on analyst who will say “because they didn’t sell the 89 million on launch day it can be considered a failure.”

@johnvboy Yeah, gonna' be a hard call this year for my GOTY pick. It's either ACNH or Lawn Mowing Simulator. How to choose, how to choose.....

@Jooles_95 Did you actually play the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild? It would have performed much better had features already shown off as being included hadn't been removed in order to make the Switch version look better in comparison. The Wii U release was delayed in order for development focus to shift to the Switch, while nIntendo gaslit the Wii U fanbase as they abandoned the Wii U while claiming they had done no such thing. BOTW is a Wii U game, that you prefer to think otherwise doesn't change that fact. MK8, the "outlier" as you prefer to refer to it, is literally the biggest selling piece of software on the Switch. If all the port sales are added together, how many total sales do you think that makes? There's just no telling a fanboy, logic is useless with you.

@NEStalgia,

You are a devil, but that Lawn mowing game is so addictive, did like the other game where you actually sit on the mower in a fps view, but as they say the grass is not always greener/shorter on the other side.

@WhiteUmbrella,

We get it, you don't like the Switch, no major reason for concern, you will not be the first on here, and by no means will be the last.

@johnvboy lol.... And now we know the type of person that loves NH. The same kind of person that actually loves simulating yard work.

I'll extend the same offer to you I graciously extended to everyone on PXB. I bought the arcade machine version of lawn mowing simulator. It's cool, one of those sit down cabinets with the tilting motion and all that. It's out in the yard. You can come over and play for free any time you'd like! Only limitation is it can only be played once every 4-10 days, but more often if it's raining....

@NEStalgia,

I am convinced there is some sort of addictive substance emitted from the console, when I start up New Horizons, never put as much hours into any other game in the series, or any other game for that matter.

Considering setting up a premium rate helpline for those addicted.

@Peach64 I would say Splatoon 3 is a statement of intent. They supported Splatoon 1 and 2 for what? 18-24 months? That potentially takes Switch in to 2024.

@johnvboy You sure it's not just a launch switch with a bad heatsink melting toxic plastic fumes while you play?

Pretty sure we'll see the switch hit 120m before Nintendo discontinue the System and have already decided to release the Switch successor. That's a good run, but its clear we're starting to see the decline as Next Gen starts to move on and Competition has already started to form.

“Oh b-b-but joycon drift is definitely an issue affecting most switch owners, isn’t it guyz?” /s

@NEStalgia,

Could have been, but my sister has my original Switch, I have the newer model, although who knows what will happen when I get the new model with the hypnotic OLED screen, 2000 hours on New Horizons guaranteed.

@NotSoCryptic,

Not much competition to be honest, the Steam Deck will only ever sell niche numbers and was never going to be direct competition, not many P.C type enthusiasts will want to play downgraded games on a lower resolution screen, and there are already two powerful handheld P.C type consoles already on the market, at a higher price of course.

You would need either Sony, Microsoft or Apple to release a Switch competitor, if you are going to have any chance at giving Nintendo a run for their money.

@WhiteUmbrella Yes, I played BotW on WiiU at a friend’s house, and it ran noticeably worse than on my Switch. Not sure about the details of WHY it does, and frankly, that’s not what we are discussing here - if you’re still disappointed that Nintendo jumped ship on a flawed, failing console with a great library and terrible marketing and third party support, that’s not my problem, and that’s not what we are discussing here.

For the second time, yes, MK8D is the biggest seller on Switch and it’s a port, we had already agreed on that. But after crunching some numbers, ports still only make up a fraction of software sales, as mentioned in my previous comment.

Since the Switch launched in 2017, Nintendo published 47 games on it, with 13 of these being Wii or WiiU ports. In total, the 13 ports sold around 75 million, while the remaining 34 ‘original’ games sold a whopping 239.5 million. This means that ports only make up around 24% of all Nintendo-published software sales so far, thus disproving your argument that ports are what has been carrying the company this console cycle.

You say I’m a fangirl immune to logic, and yet here are nice, hard numbers tallied up from sales charts across a number of sites, neatly proving my point. If that is not enough in your eyes, then I rest my case - your determination to see the Switch as a commercial failure at all costs regardless of proof has made logic useless with you.

Feel free to keep telling everyone that the Switch is a failing console carried by low-effort ports; I’ll be here, snug and comfy, enjoying my lovely console and all its lovely games. 👋

@WhiteUmbrella last fiscal year Nintendo made more profit with the Switch alonr than with the Wii and DS when they both peaked in the same year. They sold combined 56M Wii and DS units in one year but they still made way more profit in 2020 with the Switch. Last FY they made more profit than any company ever made with gaming in any FY. You can't seriously think that the financially most profitable gaming device ever is considered a failure, that's just stupid. It doesn't make any sense. It's not just about hardware sales, software sales are way higher on the Switch and digital sales are 100% profit for them because there is no retailer who gets a cut. Don't forget that the number Nintendo reports for software does not include digital only games.
Also, the only hardware sales that have slowed is the Switch Lite, the hybrid model is up from last year.

@Jooles_95
"Ports carry the Switch because Mario Kart 8 DX is its best-selling game" makes about as much sense as "Ports carry the PS4/XBO because GTAV is its best-selling game".

@johnvboy based on the pre-orders numbers and how fast it sold out, if have to disagree with you on it being niche. These PC gamers have an entire library spanning decades and a huge back log thanks to steam sales. Its true that the lower performance exists, but if I can continue playing my pc save of the Witcher 3 on a plane with better quality than the switch can muster, among countless other games, its going to open some doors to leave my switch behind. It costs just 50 dollars more. A point you make by addressing the higher end 1000 dollar luxury hardware. None of which is designed around steam os. That 2 decade old collection includes titles like FF1-15, a couple of tales games, legend of heroes series including trails in the sky which is not on switch. That isn't even getting into less legal avenues for playing Nintendo games on steamdeck. There is already a strong switch emulator. No need for a crappy library of handpicked curiated games when you can have anything.

Additionally many pc gamers do own a switch. It is part of their huge audience. I think for the exclusives sure, but seeing the steamdeck might cause them to reconsider using a switch in favor of a better version of doom eternal on the go.

I think you're not giving the steamdeck enough credit. This isn't some random kickstarter project. It's a contender in the game spaces real attempt at actually releasing hardware. We know ms will never release another portable. Sony has turned a blind eye even if they have what it takes to build a portable ps4 at this point. They just don't have the focus or need to. Especially with the way the ps5 is crushing switch in a few regions. I believe in Europe it sold more than the switch and Xbox combined last month. This usually indicates a willingness to move past 5 year old hardware. Steamdeck certainly is that. Steamdeck isn't just a PC, its a PC meant to behave like a switch.

@westman98 I know, right?! Looks like the argument of someone who’s grasping at straws.

@NotSoCryptic,

I think the Steam Deck is an awesome machine, but as for it going up against the Switch or it's successor in any meaningful way is very unlikely, but as the say time will tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52vo1g4VBbc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52vo1g4VBbc

By the way these two are not kick starter projects either, still very little impact though.

@NotSoCryptic
We already know from leaked queue numbers that Valve plans to ship <150,000 SteamDecks from its December launch until Q3 2022. A Switch competitor this is not.

"Especially with the way the ps5 is crushing switch in a few regions. I believe in Europe it sold more than the switch and Xbox combined last month."
To be clear, this is in reference to the UK, not to all of Europe. The Switch is the best-selling platform in Europe in 2021 thus far.

@johnvboy I'm not really addressing the Successor here. The implication is that the Steamdeck will be the catalyst that hastens the release of a "Switch 2".

Not sure which response I made this in, but the price of those kickstarter projects is quite prohibitive by comparison to the Steamdeck and neither has a tailored OS for their hardware. This is very important to the success and capability of the machine. Speaking as someone who has fulled with such machines. Not to mention the time and quality put in by first part. Which Valve can very much be considered at this point. They have experience with making consoles and console hardware. So while I have no doubt that a 1000 dollar piece of portable hardware will be a nice component to have on my shelf, I'm still hesitant to the build quality of the product. Products that are very much Windows 10 dependent. I'm very familiar with both of those projects and spent a lot of time considering "do I really want to spend this kind of money on a portable PC to play my older PC games".

Another possibility to consider is that these kickstarter projects result in the Steamdeck program being expanded to 3rd parties. You could be seeing second generations of those products after the Kickstarter rewards are distributed that are designed to take better advantage of the latest version of Steam OS. Either way the Steamdeck wins. I don't see these as detractors, but unknowning allies that will likely want to capitalize on this new market of dockable portables. I'm going with the Steamdeck simply because I feel the hardware itself will be more matured and better oriented and cheaper.

Also incase you're splitting hairs here, yes I'm aware they are Indigogo campaigns, I use kickstarter as a catch all. They still require some kind of crowd funding in order to be successful. I believe the ONE XPLAYER initially had a Kickstarter. You also linked the same video twice, but don't worry I know which hardware you're referring too.

Overall I'm not impressed with the quality of the products and don't have much faith in the engineering teams behind them. A lot of the PC community for all the power these machines have, come with a lot of concerns. 1000+ for a piece of hardware that will get lost in a drawer because no one support the hardware beyond initial release. My Steamlinks and other steam devices still get updates. The Steam controller as much as I hated it, still had some degree of build quality to it. It felt near first party unlike a lot of these crowd funded projects like The All Controller which neglected to send me my dongle and respond to my requests for the remainder of order. So basically a controller that can't work as advertised and has basically been relegated to a controller for my phone.... no idea where it is now.

@westman98
"We already know from leaked queue numbers that Valve plans to ship <150,000 SteamDecks from its December launch until Q3 2022. A Switch competitor this is not."

The leak is incorrect. You can file that as an insider source for that one.

"To be clear, this is in reference to the UK, not to all of Europe. The Switch is the best-selling platform in Europe in 2021 thus far."

Thank you for the correction. However this could be the indication of a trend. Especially with how well the PS5 is doing and only manufacturing being their biggest issue. Currently holding steady as the fastest unit-selling system in US history. They'll catch up to the switch.

@NotSoCryptic
Where does it say that the leaked numbers (which was datamined from the SteamDeck preoder page) was incorrect, and if so, what are the actual preorder figures?

Also, I'd probably wait for a few years of sales data before saying that PS5 will catch up to Switch, as first-year sales are not entirely indicative of lifetime sales. (The Switch itself was tracking well below Wii in Year 1 sales and is now looking to comfortably outsell it by the end of this year).

@Rika_Yoshitake Yes Switch is breaking records. Yes Switch sales are expected to start dwindling this year. Both can be true. Doesn’t mean the Switch is doing bad though, just means sales have seemingly peaked. Pretty easy to understand graph is attached in the article. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/08/talking_point_nintendos_business_remains_strong_but_is_the_bloom_off_switch_lite

@westman98
You won't find that data online. You can take this for what its worth, but we can just file that information under me knowing more than most people given the side of the developer line I sit on. It's not a reliable source. Honestly if you knew how often these leaks get bad data even when they are legit, you'd probably would stop listening to them.

I also wouldn't put a hamper on year one sales so quickly. Ya we've seen some fast take off tapper off, but the PlayStation brand really hasn't had that issue if they have 10 month supply problem and are showing record sales. Pretty safe to say they are on a damn good trajectory right now. They have the IP to help sustain that demand into 2022. So much so that it has scared them into releasing their PS5 games with downgraded versions for PS4. Saying the PS5 won't be a success is like assuming the Wii U was going to be one based purely on the Wii. I've never been wrong about calling a console generations outcome in over 30 years. I think I got this licked. Didn't take a genius to know the switch would take off the way it would. I was one of the few at my studio who said we would end up porting our incredibly taxing game to it before we launched on PS4, Xbox One and PC, then was laughed at over it. Only to be proven right 6 months later and releasing the game on the Switch 6 months later than the other consoles. As I stated above, take that for what its worth. this is the internet after all. I could be a 10 year old drinking Yoohoo getting my kicks off of talking to kids on a comment section.

Over all we need to keep an eye on the Steamdeck, it's even a bit cloudy for me to see what's going to happen with it. Valves history is about as shaky as googles in supporting its extra tech endeavors. Though we did get Half Life Alyx and in a way Steam Link lives on in android devices, and their controller oddly still gets support from them. In this case a lot of thought has gone into the Steamdeck. It'll be the second SoC device to use RNDA2 (first being the Series X and some of it exists in the PS5). This is a big deal. You won't see this in any other device offering higher performance numbers. The pay off will certainly be there. Valve is taking the gloves off. I think between the PS5 and this Device we'll see the entire market re-evaluate the Switch's dominance, with new hardware and consumers willingness to give their money to others looking to expand that market. Not every Switch owner is a devout Nintendo fan anymore every PlayStation or Xbox owner is of their platforms. They'll go where the games are, and give their money to who ever will give them the best experience, what that means will very on the subject that is paying for it.

@NotSoCryptic
Yeah, sorry, I'm not buying the "I'm a secret insider who knows more than you" explanation until I see some hard proof. And once more, if the datamined preorder queue numbers are faked, then what are the real numbers?

With regards to the SteamDeck itself, I think the hardware is great for those who want to play their Steam games on the go. I just don't think that impedes on Nintendo's success very much if at all, contrary to what those with a clear anti-Nintendo bias would want to suggest otherwise.

With regards to PS5, at no point did I say it wasn't a success or that it would fall off a cliff in the future. I'm saying that it would take a lot for it to outsell the Switch in lifetime sales.
Switch sold ~21 million units in 2019 and ~29 million units in 2020; current sales seem to suggest that it will sell ~25 million units in 2021 and likely another ~20 million units in 2022 if the upcoming software lineup isn't totally delayed
By comparison, PS4 sold ~20 million units annually once in its peak year (2016), and 15-19 million units annually during other years, so in order for PS5 to outperform the Switch, it would have to sell substantially more than PS4 ever did on a consistent basis.

@WhiteUmbrella dumbest comment by far

@Digimon24 Dumbness refers to the inability to talk, it's a disability. The fact that you are using an ablist slur against me, and not any kind of cogent argument against the points I have made means I can assume that the irony in this has also eluded you.

@WhiteUmbrella second dumbest comment on this thread. Go touch some grass

@Digimon24 What a fascinating specimen you are. To the ignore list with you, since you clearly have nothing of interest to say. I wouldn't be surprised if your own family has you on ignore lol

With the Steam deck on the horizon, Nintendo could definitely do with a bump up in the graphical horse power department! Sorry, but the OLED version does absolutely noting for me! I like the black and white colour scheme, as it will sit well next to my PS5.

That alone is not enough of a reason to shell out for one though sadly

Love my Switch (bar the joycon drift) as a handheld its more than a Stella unit, docked, not some much in this day and age.

I simply don't get why they can't significantly upgrade the Dock though? Patch all current games to take advantage of it! Then bang out a new Dock that can display 60fps, DLSS, and possibly a 1440p or checkerboarded 4K resolution and a bit more horsepower for TV based sessions, then they don't really need to immediately lauch a "Switch Pro" model. (They'll have too eventually, granted) as the graphics hounds are currently laughing at Nintendo's current tech.

For those claiming the Switch is "Dying", I highy suggest those aforementioned folk go and take a look at the Japanese sales charts! Sony isn't even in it anymore, let alone Microsoft!

And yes, I own a PS5 and Series X, but Nintendo have done very well this generation, especially on very outdated harware.

Don't get me wrong here, if they announced an upgraded Switch Pro model tomorrow, (or upgraded Dock) I'd be putting in pre-orders as we speak. But the doom and gloom scenario's regarding Nintendo....well it's simply not an issue at present

Switch definitely
isn't in trouble at present people

@westman98 cheeeeers bro, a much better perspective than the press release gives. Clearly, the Switch is still at the top of its game.

I’m gonna stick around still to see if it reaches that sweet >155 mil.

The best thing about the Nintendo Switch as someone who uses their PC as a main go to is that CS:GO and DOTA 2 are not the top 2 for all eternity when checking most played.