Nom-Nom Numbers Time!
On Monday, Nintendo released their 3rd quarter financial report (which accounts for figures through the end of 2020), bringing us new hardware and software sales numbers for Nintendo’s systems to devour. Because everyone loves numbers, charts, and lists!
Switch Hardware Numbers
Since the console’s launch in 2017, the Switch has shipped 79.87 million units (with an estimated 74 million sold-through to consumers) and sold 532.34 million games. The last nine months of 2020 saw the company already hit its annual net sales target (itself a 37% increase over the previous year).
With that continued runaway success, the Switch has surpassed the unit sales of the 3DS- and doing so in less than four years. The decade-long sales total of the handheld is estimated to be at 75.94 million. Meanwhile, Daniel Ahmad points out that the Switch Lite model on its own has surpassed the Wii U’s totals (13.53 million vs 13.56 million).
These new figures now place the Switch as the fifth highest-selling Nintendo system ever- and on the verge of becoming number four, as the Game Boy Advance only leads by less than 2 million units. For comparison, Nintendo sold about 2.5 million Switch units during their pre-pandemic 4th quarter two years ago. So, expect the pandemic-surging console to pass that mark in the very near future.
Above them remains the top three Nintendo systems: the DS (at 154 million), the Wii (at 101.6 million), and the Game Boy (at 118.7 million). The Xbox 360 and PlayStation family of consoles are also found within that supra-GBA tier.
(image via giphy)
Switch Software Numbers
Software totals rank the system third among Nintendo platforms (behind only the DS & Wii) and rack up some impressive numbers, with 29 titles selling over one million copies during the fiscal year alone. These include the games in the following (approximate) ranges, descending highest to lowest:
- 19 million units+: Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- 8 million units+: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- 6 million units: Ring Fit Adventure
- 4 million+ units: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- 3 million+ units: Super Marty Party, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Paper Mario: The Origami King, Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield
- 2 million+ units: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, Super Mario Odyssey, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics, Pikmin 3 Deluxe
- 1 million+ units: Splatoon 2, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Super Mario Maker 2, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu!/Pékemon Let’s Go Eevee
Top-Selling Switch Games
Nintendo also updated the lifetime, worldwide units sold for their games. And while that hasn’t enacted any positional changes on the top ten games sold for the platform since the last quarterly update, we can see some of the gaps narrowing:
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (33.41m)
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons (31.18m)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (22.85m)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (21.45m)
- Pokémon Sword / Pokémon Shield (20.35m)
- Super Mario Odyssey (20.23m)
- Super Mario Party (13.82m)
- Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu! / Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee (13.00m)
- Splatoon 2 (11.90m)
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (9.82m)
As pointed out by Ryng on resetera, if you combine the sales of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with the Wii U sales of Mario Kart 8, the resulting 41.86m units sold surpasses Mario Kart Wii’s 37.38m stat to become the top-selling game of the franchise.
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Additionally, Imran Khan observed that Pikmin 3 Deluxe is now the top-selling game in its franchise and that Origami King could potentially become the top-selling game in its own. Meanwhile, Age of Calamity has become the top-selling entry in the Musou genre and Ring Fit Adventure now stands as the top-selling, original (ie: non-sequel/spin-off, etc) JRPG of this entire gaming generation.
The report also highlighted releases for their current, final fiscal quarter that included Monster Hunter Rise, Bravely Default II, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury, Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town and Buddy Mission: BOND.
You can read the full financial report here, as well as other overview details at gamesindustry.biz.
