Did you know that the Nintendo Switch is the company’s best-selling console of all time? Today, Nintendo revealed the sales milestone. As of December 31, 2021, the company has sold 103.54 million units, beating out the Wii’s lifetime sales of 101.63 million units. If you forgot how monumental the Wii was, then you’ll need to brush up on the system’s popularity where it was everywhere.
While it is the best home console, the Nintendo DS reigns supreme and will take a bit more time to match sales — which are currently at 153 million consoles. Adding to the monumental sales milestone, the Switch is also the fastest home-selling console to hit 100 million units sold, beating out the Wii and PlayStation 4.
Switch has surpassed 100 million sales at fastest pace as home console. Nintendo's Furukawa said Switch is still at middle of its lifecycle and momentum for further growth this year is good. pic.twitter.com/e95rlQxare
— Takashi Mochizuki (@6d6f636869) February 3, 2022
Nintendo seems confident with the Switch’s sales and per Bloomberg, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa said “Switch is just in the middle of its lifecycle and the momentum going into this year is good. The Switch is ready to break a pattern of our past consoles that saw momentum weakening in their sixth year on the market and grow further.”
Regardless of how Furukawa feels, the Switch’s sales forecast was recently lowered. Due to chip shortages around the globe and supply chain issues affecting every industry, the projected 24 million units were slashed to 23 million (which is still commendable).
There were a lot of rumours swirling last year regarding a potential Nintendo Switch Pro, instead, we got the Switch OLED Model that featured the same guts but with a much better screen. Breaking down the sales from the last quarter: the standard model Switch sold 11.79 million units, the Switch OLED model sold 3.99 million units and the Switch Lite sold 3.17 million.
Closing out 2021, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold 13.97 million units, Mario Party Superstars sold 5.43 million units, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD sold 3.85 million units, Metroid Dread sold 2.74 million copies. Wii U originals New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe old 12.72 million units, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has hit 43.35 million units. Pokémon Sword & Shield is officially the second best-selling game in the series, with only Red/Blue/Green on top.
