In a little over three months' time, the Nintendo Switch will have been on the market for five whole years. Despite that, the system has just enjoyed its best-ever week in the UK.
That's according to GamesIndustry.biz's Christopher Dring, who reports that "last week was the biggest sales week ever for Nintendo Switch" in the region. Dring explains that Nintendo's Black Friday console bundle, which included a copy of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a three-month Switch Online subscription, helped the system to reach new levels of success.
It was an "absolute dominant display," he said.
The current UK chart data certainly backs up this news, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe leaping up the charts from seventh place to first during Black Friday week. That console bundle no doubt helped the game to climb the pecking order, beating the likes of FIFA and Minecraft to the top along the way.
Did you grab a new Switch this Black Friday? Do you think the system will remain this successful for years to come? Share your thoughts with us below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 45
Awesome. Such is the Power of Nintendo!
A little surprised but credit where it's due. Nice stuff.
The result of pretty much no competition. Series S has an identity crisis, PS4/XB1 have been discontinued for awhile and PS5/Series X have major stock issues.
Nintendo also made sure there was lots of OLED in stock for the Black Friday weekend
@Grumblevolcano not really, people don't buy a switch cause they can't get another console, nintendo and xbox/ps5 are not mutually exchangeable in the mind of gamers and general buyers
The report is not about the switch selling more than other consoles, it's about the switch selling more than it has ever did in the uk, 5 years after launch, competition has little to do with it
Finally got hold of an oled yesterday, can't wait to try it out
@Grumblevolcano the Series S has an identity crisis? How so? It appears to be outselling the PS5 in this instance.
A next-gen system that supports up to 120fps and raytracing? For £250!? Seems like a pretty solid - and successful - identity to me.
@Grumblevolcano
PS4 machine has been discontinued already ??
@MaxiPareja well said it’s a great console for the money I have a switch and a series s they are both great
I had to purchase a Switch OLED from a scalper, so it won't count in the sales total for Nintendo. :/
For me the Switch and Series S are a great combination, too many dismiss the Series S but it has amazing capabilities for a console that's £250
@wanghosom If you just want a console you may pick a different system than you originally intended provided it has the games you want. Anyway it's fantastic that Switch is still doing extremely well nearly 5 years after launch.
@MaxiPareja I was meaning in the sense of there's been a lot of "is it really next gen?" regarding Series S. It's such that Microsoft has ended up doing a bunch of "Simply next gen" ads for it.
@wanghosom I think both the Pandemic and chip shortages have played in Nintendo’s favor. Hell, I picked up the OLED bc I could not get the Series X or PS5.
The vast majority of the public don't make purchasing decisions on consoles by carefully evaluating lists of tech specs, and they never have. Consoles live or die by having games people want to play and a marketable brand and image, and the Switch has nailed both. The PlayStation was still doing numbers at this point in its life as well for the same reasons, and so was the Game Boy.
Totally backing up the series S love here. It's a superb machine!
Probably love it slightly more than the Switch.
@Medic_Alert yeah that is a little bit of a balancing act, though I tried Xcloud streaming recently and it worked really well. Luckily many of the games I'm currently playing are back compat so quite small as well
Who needs Switch Pro? Nintendo is still selling that 40 years old Game and Watch. Switch will last until 2060.
Fantastic..and it deserves every single sale!! It is the most unique console imaginable...equally as brilliant plugged into the TV or in handheld mode.
Some of my very favourite games on it too now.
Would highly recommend Mario Party Superstars for online as well.....VERY fun!
Genuinely surprised NL took the time to mention this news.
That’s actually insane
The Switch is awesome, and is not showing any signs of sales slowing like they did with the Wii, the mighty Ps2 and DS could be toppled.
@IronMan30,
Yes they only tend to report poor sales figures and Nintendo stock price drops.
@MaxiPareja the next gen system that can play XSX games but at a lower but acceptable resolution and has pretty much the same capabilities as it’s older brother the Series X for $299 (USA price btw)? Honestly the Series S is indeed a great console from what I heard
Do we have the actual numbers?
They have Mario, Zelda and a new Pokemon title. Combine that with actual stock to sell, plus add in some advertising = Great sales.
The console is fun and appealing to the mases, if they continue to advertise occasionally and release key exclusive games the Switch will continue to sell..
@Grumblevolcano Ludicrous. Again there is nothing to substantiate this perspective.
The Switch is a great system. That’s it. It’s an insult to suggest people are only buying this because it’s “second rate”.
PlayStation...? More like PooStation... amirite?
Safe to say the Switch has captured the hearts of gamers. 4 more years!
@Curator I'm not saying that at all, I think Switch still would've done well even with PS5/Series X readily in stock. Rather I was saying some people who originally wanted a PS5/Series X will have opted for a Switch because it's extremely difficult to get the former consoles. We'll never know to what extent but there will be people who did that.
@Grumblevolcano I think it's fair to say there will be an element of folk wanting to own more than one console having to buy a Switch sooner than later, but this performance last week was probably due to Pokemon, Black Friday and some incredible momentum more than anything
@Grumblevolcano
Maybe I'm giving the consumers too much credit, but I don't think there is any confusion on whether the Series S is a next-gen console or not.
This isn't a Wii vs Wii U situation here.
Would be good if there was a new Mario game this Christmas.
Biggest weeks of Switch hardware sales in the UK are:
1) Black Friday week 2021
2) Black Friday week 2019
3) Black Friday week 2018
4) Black Friday week 2020
5) Switch launch week (March 2017)
6) Black Friday week 2017
The Switch sold ~100,000 units during Black Friday week 2018, so sales during Black Friday week 2019 and 2021 are higher than that.
@westman98 And every arm chair analyst was patting themselves on the back thinking the Switch had peaked last year!
I can never understand the "Switch only sells well because it is in stock" line of reasoning.
Nobody in the real world forgoes the product that they desire and instead buys another product they had no interest in simply because in was in stock.
@Rosalinho
“ Consoles live or die by having games people want to play and a marketable brand and image, and the Switch has nailed both”
The perfect summary. Throw in desirable, practical hardware and it’s an irresistible combination. Well deserved success.
@westman98 Less Wii vs. Wii U, more Switch vs. PS5/Series X. Due to release timing, Switch could be considered either the last 8th gen system or the first 9th gen system but most of the time is considered the former because of its specs.
@Grumblevolcano
If consumers know that a Series X is next-gen, then surely they shouldn't have a hard time figuring out that a Series S is next-gen as well, no?
The vast majority of people don't read up on or even understand hardware spec details or watch Digital Foundry religiously - if they see Microsoft promoting Xbox Series X|S together as their next gen hardware family, then that's what it will be to them - a next gen platform.
I don't think anyone consider the Xbox One X, PS4 Pro, and New 3DS as a next gen Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo platform, so I don't think people will confuse a Xbox Series S as a previous-gen Xbox.
@electrolite77 Yeah a good show of it is both the WiiU and the Switch's best selling game, Mario Kart 8.
On WiiU it sold 8 million, but on Switch almost 40million. Speaks for how much of a difference desirable hardware can make.
Excellent. More victims for me to race
Now you're playing with power. Switch power.
Who would have thought switch is holding its own still against a new gen. But there are a whole bunch of factors why it is succeeding. Including low stock of new gen cause if the pandemic. But soon Nintendo will have a 100 million selling system and still be putting out games like we are in year three next year.
This is the farthest thing from the doom felt in 2017 when people still had doubts.
As much as switch may very well be my favorite console of all time (it certainly the one I have bought the more games for) I don't think it will outsell the best selling Nintendo machines (Wii and DS) it will sit at a more than well deserved 3rd place)
(I would love to be proved wrong thou)
@EriXz I think it will outsell the Wii. The gap is less than 10million.
And if its having its biggest selling week in ever now when last year it sold over 11milliion during the Holiday season. It's very possible it'd accomplish it by January.
I think whether it'd outsell DS is very hard to say. If the Switch does, I think it'd be very, very close.
I am so happy for the Switch domination and happy the success of the x box series s as well.
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