It's Official, Nintendo Switch Is The Best-Selling Hardware In Japan

You got this Nintendo! Osu! To the finish liiiiiine!

Xbox will catch up in no time!

Switch will get those 1million sales in japan. Console is still selling 70- 95k weekly.

Japanese people have the best taste regarding consoles.

Only a matter of time.

So close... now, if only there was a re-release of a popular Paper Mario game on the horizon... a kind of 20th Anniversary remake...

So, officially no Switch 2 announcement in this week's Nintendo Direct at the current rate, they just want to reach that milestone.
Jokes aside, they will reach that number this year with or without a new console announcement probably. Big numbers

Imagine going back to the 2016 reveal of the Switch and telling people it would become the third best selling console in the galaxy.

Hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the last 3 weeks the Switches combined actually sold less than 50 thousand a week according to Famitsu's weekly hardware charts from the period.

A couple of special editions, maybe one where the console is unique and that'll be done.

Heck a solid white switch would that easy

It'll top the Japanese console sales and it will be this year too regardless of a new console or not. But it's looking increasingly less likely that the Switch will top 155 million worldwide unless the upcoming console is counted as part of the same family

As @shgamer states, if you look at the last three weekly charts published on here, the combined weekly total for switches each week is about 45k

Good. Deserved.

It'll reach that milestone soon.

@shgamer Hardly bubble bursting when you take into account the 2-week end of 2023 sales:

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/01/japanese-charts-mario-wonder-and-switch-oled-finish-2023-in-style

Switch smashed that period, selling 170,000 units, about twice as much as the PS5. Demand is clearly still generally strong among the population, and a January lull is understandable considering. And even then the figures aren't far off PS5. Japan loves portables and who else is selling portables?

We don't need a Nintendo Switch successor! Why? Because it still haven't beat PS2 lifetime total sales! And only after that... I'll be okay with Nintendo Switch successor. I'm a Nintendôbôya. When it comes to Nintendo's hardware, at least. Can't say the same thing about Nintendo's games, however.

@gcunit You do have to consider that Japan has a population of just over 125 million people (which btw is considerably less than in the DS and GB days - plus the population is getting older and older) which means that more than 1 out of 4 people on average has bought a Switch in Japan.

Of course there's probably several millions people that have double dipped and bought a Lite or an OLED model as well later on (but still it's a very high number by any account).

So they could be reaching the limit on how many Switches it's humanly possible to sell to the Japanese public very soon by any normal logic.

I wish they beat PS2 but seems extremely unlikely, shame

@JHDK I ran some quick numbers - if Nintendo didn’t sell a single unit from now and MS sold 2k per week, Xbox should catch up in approximately 15,750 weeks or over 302 years! 😮

Nintendo on top!

@shgamer By any normal logic, if DS (portable only) can sell 33,000,000 units, so can Switch (console/portable hybrid). Yes, population has declined and aged a bit, but Switch is a significantly more attractive proposition (in some ways) than DS.

This time next year (and probably way sooner), Japan will crown a new king.

@gcunit I've never said the Switch can't surpass the DS' sales. I think there's good chance it will (not by much though imo - the saturation is real).

Switch is only about 5 million off the crown for North America too.

It's Europe letting the side down, with a 20 million gap to top spot still.

Excellent!! I really love the Nintendo Switch.

@shgamer burst anyone's bubble on what? Last year's January was about 50k a week.

The Super Mario Bros Movie really propelled the Switch into the stratosphere deeper than it already was. I see the Switch smashing this one with no problem. My curiosity, how will the next Switch be handled? Just another SKU in the Switch family with the OLED and Lite being available for the old one? Or will it be treated as a separated platform?

@Fiskern You're probably right about that, now that I remember. But it's still not between the 50 and 100 thousands a week the article states (at least not the last 3 weeks).

To the finish line!

Just more 2 years to be the best selling console ever worldwide.

I am pretty sure the Nintendo Switch will make it!

It's definitely going to happen sooner or later, no need to argue semantics.

Totally deserved for the Switch, such an amazing platform.

Hardware Sales for the last week of January (followed by lifetime sales)

PlayStation 5 – 41,188 (4,447,566)
Switch OLED Model – 33,288 (6,595,453)
PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 8,757 (702,771)
Switch Lite – 8,991 (5,721,761)
Switch – 4,156 (19,710,724)
Xbox Series X – 2,158 (249,481)
PlayStation 4 – 655 (7,917,910)
Xbox Series S – 1,747 (298,280)
New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 15 (1,192,801)

Some wacky sales claims in here. Switch looks extremely likely to sell another million in Japan. Easily.

@datamonkey On a cosmic scale this is in no time.

@gcunit It's gonna surpass the DS in less than half a year. I'll give it five months from now.
I think the Switch will end at 35 million. Another 1.5-2 million this year.

Nintendo bringin the big bucks!💰💰💰

The Switch really is a remarkable system. Coming off the Wii U, I really didn’t expect much from the Switch. Nintendo really turned it around. So many have copied its design. Nintendo has done an amazing job putting out great games on the Switch.

The Switch was crafted with the Japanese player base in mind. Luckily I share many of those gaming habits

That is an easy enough goal even if the next Nintendo platform dropped tomorrow. Switch would still sell reasonably well for at least another year or two at that point

I have such a ridiculous switch backlog that Im not ready for a switch 2 just yet, Im perfectly happy with the current system. I can honestly say its been my favorite console ever.

Again, Nintendo really should be aiming for taking all these records imo: Highest selling console in Japan, highest selling console of all time worldwide, etc. There is no harm at all in having claims like that behind your consoles.

@shgamer Now this... is bubble bursting!

@Moonlessky Backatya five!

@gcunit All I've said is that the last 3 weeks the Switches combined have sold less than 50 thousand units a week in Japan.
And 33.34 million sold in Japan just my makes argument of the Switch having probably reached it's limit sales wise in Japan even more valid.

I don't know if they can reach these 155 million worldwide. That would be amazing though.

EDIT : okay I've had a look at that other article about sales predictions and worldwide numbers and it turns out they have a real shot at it. That's crazy cool! And well deserved. I mean it's a real revolutionary machine. There hasn't been anything that new and with a potential to make the entire market evolve in years. Actually it's the main evolution on the market since the wii and before that 3d gaming. It's that big.

@shgamer If that's all your point ever was then the "hate to burst anyone's bubble" part of your post is misleading. What bubble did you think you might be bursting if it wasn't the 'Switch is heading to top spot in Japanese hardware history' bubble?

@gcunit The bubble that I talked about was the fact that the author of this article stated that the Switch is selling between 50 and 100 thousand units a week in Japan, which is not true if you look at the last 3 weeks.

One of the commenters talked about 70 to 95 thousand a week - again not true if you look at the sales numbers of the last 3 weeks. I was merely trying to correct things (but who knows maybe it will back to over 50 - or 70 - thousand this thursday when the latest Famitsu sales numbers arrive - we'll see).

Famitsu's number is that much lower because they don't have data from the Mynintendo store, where Nintendo sell Switches directly themselves and because this number from Nintendo is the shipment number. Not all of them have been sold just yet.

Well deserved, the Switch is still a really good console even after all these years.

Congrats to Nintendo and the Switch, absolutely deserved and shows releasing constant great software pays off. I hope they can keep that momentum going with the Switch 2.

@Vyacheslav333 Surely you jest, it's still another 18 million sales off the PS2 which could take years to catch up to. They won't wait until then to release a new console but what they could do is in the Switch's last year they could give it a heavy discount, knock $100 off the price of all models permanently, that may help it reach the PS2 sales.

@Vyacheslav333 I wouldn’t mind waiting till March 2025 if it meant improving the specs….

@UltimateOtaku91 @Vyacheslav333 I'm not sure anything can overtake the sales of the PS2 when you take into account that it was also the cheapest DVD player on the market at the time and could have lead to a bloat in sales.

Plus, the PS2 was prone to disc drive failures and required replacing. Though I am sure all console sales number have a little bit of "padding" based on replacements bought due to hardware failures (or in the Switch case, potentially accidental damage).

I'd say, as a purely gaming machine, toppling the Nintendo DS is the one to beat.

That isn't a slam against the PS2. It was still a solid machine with an amazing library of games - all I am saying is that the number is probably skewed a little bit based on its non-gaming appeal.

@UltimateOtaku91 Hey! I'm serious. 🙁
«but what they could do is in the Switch's last year they could give it a heavy discount, knock $100 off the price of all models permanently, that may help it reach the PS2 sales.»
Yes, they need to do a price drop. I have mentioned it a few times before, on other articles.

@rockodoodle Well, me too, I guess...

@GamingFan4Lyf Yeah, I know... But it's not that impossible to beat PS2's lifetime total sales, imo.

Assuming Nintendo dose with the Switch Lite what they did with the N2DS, selling it as a cheap entry level it might hit 2nd place with a long enough tail.

Awesome sauce. Congratulations Nintendo!

@Vyacheslav333 I hope it does! It would be a fantastic comeback story to go from failure with the Wii U to #1 with the Switch!

Well deserved sales!

Glad to see the Switch going as far as it has, as I love the hybrid console/portable concept and want it to continue thriving as the new standard.

@GamingFan4Lyf Yeah! Nintendo will show Sony and Microsoft who is the emperor of the video game consoles!

That’s 2025 for Switch 2 at earliest then

🍾🎊🎉Time to party!

Portable gaming is king in Japan. Congrats to the Switch.

"You'll never catch me, Krabs! Not when I shift into M A X I M U M O V E R D R I V E ! !"

What an accomplishment. So well deserved for the Switch.

Wow, that's crazy! but also not crazy, since this is such a great system!

Totally unrelated but the ad on the side of my screen is for a local internet provider, and it says "Say Allo to faster speeds" and has a picture of someone with a Switch in hand. even Alol knows who's the king of consoles!

I predicted back in the middle of last year that Switch would sell about 143m before Switch 2, assuming they had no intention to support it concurrently.

Can safely say my guess is looking a tad conservative now. Nintendo have a real puzzle to solve here. Their stock is riding high, sales are still strong. Announcing Switch 2 too suddenly will have an adverse effect on those sales in the short-medium term and that all-time-high stock will fall.

First time ever but I’m thinking we might get a very sudden reveal and release: as in just a few months notice.

Nintendo would never admit it but they’ll want to get within touching distance (or maybe even surpass) DS and PS2 globally.

It will get there, slowly but surely.

I don’t see the switch passing ds worldwide sales due to the anticipation for its successor. As a fan of the Switch, I do hope it becomes the best selling console.

I really hope they surpass the PS2. I have nothing against Sony, I just remember all the ‘Nintendo are teh d00med’ posts from 2004 and it makes me warm inside to see them in such good health.

Here’s hoping the next console is a SNES-style upgrade and doesn’t reinvent the wheel. The Switch sold so well in spite of its innovations because it’s still traditional on the inside.

@shgamer Everything about Japan's demographics is irrelevant. The Switch is still the best selling hardware of all time in Japan.

@UltimateOtaku91 I don't think it'd take years. With price drops or new models, the Switch would definitely dethrone the PS2.

I don't know about other countries but, in the US, the Switch has had the same MSRP since launch. Of course there's been tons of sales, but no permanent price cuts.

I think a Switch Mini (that you could fit in your pocket) would be cool. If it was like $100-$150 bucks, I believe it'd sell relatively well. Throw in a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe code and it'd sell like hotcakes.

Nintendo had to update their forecast for sales in the fiscal year from 15 to 15.5 mil. Even Nintendo underestimated how the Switch would do in its 6 year.

Considering Sony gave up on Japan markets and focused on the NA market what else would take the place? Nintendo everyone. When people talk about Switch volumes they forget this is a ongoing sales and not end of lifetime sales numbers. Those are Apples to Orange comparisons and doesn't tell the stories behind those sales figures. One's still in production and one has all but ended production years ago. It's a real Shame people forget this and dig themselves into a hole. One needs to compare on-going production figures if one wants to make Real comparisons.

Want to beat Sony? Put a remake of OoT on Switch and watch it go.

It's incredible to seeing how fast people changes their narrative or enters into a complete denial mode.

People on internet still ignores the fact tha tSwitch has 140m now. So it will have +150m on next year, 100%. Switch is slowing down very slowly compared with NDS and PS2 which declined very fast and harshly compared with Switch.

So Switch will sell a bit over 10m during 3/3-24 to 3/3-25 which ledas that Switch is breaking the 150m barrier then. If Switch is lucky with selling around 15m instead of 10m so it will have 155m then... Which means that it ha ssurpassed NDS then and just has some more millions to surpassing PS2 in 3 less years compared with PS2.

It's really hilarious to see so many people being scared of that Switch indeed will sell +150m so they becomes overly defensive/denial about it. Can't wait until that fateful day and enjoying for myself while watching on the biggest meltdown on internet ever.

I'll tell this again... Switch has 140m now in less than 7 years! It took PS2 eleven years to sell 150m, and 14 years to sell 156m-158m which is the current mark.

@EvilSilentFrame Apart from the detachable side controls, I cannot see what other companies have copied designwise?

The entire form factor goes way back, long before the Switch was conceived. Tablet style devices from Archos and JXD were available for almost a decade before switch was released. Razer also made a table with connectable controls years earlier. Even the original PSP is similar in may respects.