The latest financial report from best-selling Nintendo system of all time, but it has a long way to go before it reaches the top spot, or beats the best-selling systems of its competitors.
The Nintendo Switch launched in 2017 to an uncertain response, as the failure of the Wii U to gain an audience led some to believe that Nintendo might not have what it takes to compete in the home console market. The Switch proved all of its doubters wrong, as it stormed ahead of the sales of the Xbox One, despite being a technically inferior system. The Switch's hybrid handheld/home console design caught the imagination of gamers around the world, which was helped by a killer library of exclusives, as well as a massive amount of from indie devs and third-party studios. Nintendo's latest system hit a major milestone last summer, when the Switch outsold the Game Boy Advance, putting it in the upper tier of best-selling systems.
The official Nintendo website has released the company's latest financial report, which has revealed that the Switch has sold 103.54 million units to date. This puts it ahead of the Wii in of lifetime sales, as the same site reports that the Wii sold 101.63 million units throughout its lifespan. According to gaming analyst Daniel Ahmad on Twitter, the Switch has also outsold the PS1, which shipped 102.49 million units.
The Switch has done an incredible job in of sales, as the writing was already on the wall for the Switch outselling the Wii in the past, but this may be the end of the road in of hitting milestones. The next target is the Game Boy line of systems and the Switch would need to sell over 118.69 million units to beat them. In order to become the best-selling Nintendo system, the Switch would need to face the DS and its lifetime sales of 154.02 million sales, which seems to be an insurmountable task. After that is the biggest selling console of all time, the PS2, with 155 million units sold.
The Nintendo Switch might not be able to outsell the Game Boy, DS, or PS2, but its place in history cannot be ignored. The Switch helped to propel Nintendo back into the home console market, where it's currently dominating the sales charts in Japan, to the point where the PS5 has struggled to keep up. The Wii was a similar success story in its day, following the relative failure of the GameCube. The Wiimote has finally been outdone by the Joy-Con, and Nintendo can look to the future, where the Switch may one day beat the system that birthed the Pokémon franchise.
Source: Nintendo, Daniel Ahmad/Twitter