Switch

Nintendo Switch sales surpass those of Wii U in under a year

Following a surge of sales over the Christmas period, Nintendo have announced that they have shipped more units of the Switch in 11 months than they did with the Wii U during its 5-year life span.

Switch sales now total 14.86m since its launch on 3 March, 2017–outstripping the Wii U’s delicate sum of 13.56m by the time it was discontinued in January last year. However both are still dwarfed by the original Wii’s total sales figures, having pushed out 101.63m over its lifetime.

With strong interest over the Christmas period, in which Switch sales almost tripled from the previous quarter, the question which remains is whether Nintendo can keep this momentum going. 2017 was laced with critically acclaimed first-party titles like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey, which has now become the platform’s best-selling title, but the 2018 release calendar still looks pretty sparse.

Ports of Platinum Games’ Bayonetta games and Kirby: Star Allies are set to arrive in March, with Nintendo’s inventive DIY Labo kits releasing the following month, but after that… there’s nothing much pencilled in. Fans remain optimistic that a Nintendo Direct in the near future will see more games given a solid release date for the coming year.

The 3DS also saw an increase in sales over the Christmas period, no doubt aided by the release of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon in November. However, year-on-year sales were down 9% and with the platform being readied for retirement, it looks like the 3DS will only continue to decline further, with 2018 titles like Detective Pikachu and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux acting as the console’s swan songs.