No shocker here: the Nintendo Switch has officially outsold the PlayStation 4 (117.2 million) and Game Boy (118.6 million) to become the third-bestselling console of all time.
Nintendo’s third-quarter earnings report indicates that the Switch, Switch OLED, and Switch Lite sold 8.2 million combined units sales between October 1 and December 31 in 2022, with 76.71 million software units sold since the second-quarter earnings were reported. Previously, Nintendo said sales forecasts were constrained because of the semiconductor shortage several industries have felt over the last few years due to the pandemic.
The lifetime sales of the Nintendo Switch are staggering when compared to the Wii U, a console that flopped with only 13 million units sold in its lifetime Now it seems like the Switch’s sales are slowing down but we won’t see a successor for at minimum, another two years.
There are enough first-party titles launching in the first half of 2023 with Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe later this month, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in May and Pikmin 4 later in the year.
In the same earnings report, Nintendo announced that there was a 20 percent Switch sales drop but will increase wages for employees by 10 percent to battle inflation. “It’s important for our long-term growth to secure our workforce,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told an earnings briefing, per Reuters.
Despite Nintendo reporting lower software sales this quarter and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet selling over 20 million units, the company revealed they’ll likely see profits fall short of projections.
Nintendo has made no plans to raise prices on video games or consoles but would consider doing so if it is necessary.
