If current evidence is to be believed, the Nintendo Switch has emerged victorious in the console wars, outselling all its competitors in its first year of release. The Switch, which was launched back in March last year, became the best-selling gaming console in the US in December 2017. Earlier this year in January, the growing demand for the console resulted in a 175% revenue growth for Nintendo.
Now, according to recent sales estimates, the Nintendo Switch has surpassed 15 million units sold worldwide. A report from VGChartz reveals that the company sold 214,930 units, bringing its lifetime sales to 15,016,043 units. In comparison, the next most popular console according to first year sales- the Nintendo Wii- sold 14,519,705 units in its first year of release.
Nintendo has also managed to sell 42,913,453 games for the Nintendo Switch at retail worldwide as of January 6, 2018. Out of these, three games have sold more than five million units each, eight games have sold more than one million units each, and 13 games have sold more than 500,000 units each. Super Mario Odyssey has been the top selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, with an estimated 7.99 million units sold since release. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 6.63 million units and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has sold over 6.31 million units.
Other major consoles, including Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, weren’t able to beat the Nintendo Switch in its first year sales. While Sony sold over 13 million units of the PS4 in the first year of its release, Microsoft sold just over 7 million units of the Xbox One. The fifth most popular console based on first year sales figures is yet another Nintendo offering — the WiiU — which sold over 3 million units in its first year. However, when it comes to total sales figures, the Nintendo Switch is nowhere near the current leader, the PS4, which stands at over 76 million units sold as of February 24, 2018.
