If you needed any more proof that the Nintendo Switch is a rip-roaring success (which you really didn’t), Nintendo has revealed that its new console, which only launched in March of last year, has already outsold the Wii U in terms of total sales.
The company has sold 14.86 million Switch consoles since launch, after one of its best holiday seasons in years, during which 7.23 million units alone were sold. This made the quarter Nintendo’s most profitable since 2009, at the height of the original Wii’s popularity.
By contrast, the Wii U first launched in November 2012, and went on to sell 13.56 million units over five years, before being officially discontinued in 2017.
The news was revealed via Nintendo’s release of its Third Quarter Financial Results, which summarises the company’s financial gains and losses over the period beginning October 1 to December 31 2017.
In the same report, Nintendo admitted it did not expect the Switch to be selling this well, but now predicts sales of the console to reach 20 million at some point this year. What makes them so sure? The company reconfirmed that a new Pokemon game would be released for Switch "in 2018 or later".
Nintendo’s earnings for the last nine months, from April 1st to December 31st 2017, also reveals how well its games have been selling, proving that the Switch’s success is directly tied to its portfolio of excellent titles.
Super Mario Odyssey came out on top with 9.07 million sales, in spite of releasing only just last October, but the real surprises are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2, which shifted 7.33 million and 4.91 million copies respectively.
Considering one is a revamped port of a Wii U game and the other is a sequel to fairly new IP, these are numbers not to be sniffed at. Overall, 52.7 million Switch games have been sold to date.
Naturally, Nintendo’s profit has seen a significant uptick, with an operating profit of 116.50 billion yen (£755m, $1.07 billion) for its third quarter.
The company is going into 2018 with a lot of confidence and optimism, so here’s hoping that its slate of upcoming games, from Nintendo Labo to Bayonetta 3, can keep the Switch riding on its wave of success for the next 12 months and beyond.
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