Nintendo Switch sales significantly bypass the legendary NES, next in line – 3DS and 2DS
Nintendo sold 6.86 million Switch consoles last quarter, bringing total sales of those systems to 68.3 million, a 43% increase from 4.8 million units in the same period last year. At the same time, Switch officially surpassed the legendary NES in sales (circulation of licensed consoles – 62 million).
The quarterly report shows that quarantine measures against COVID-19 do not hinder (and possibly help) Nintendo’s successful sales. The next milestone in the Switch scope is the 3DS and 2DS family with a total current circulation of over 75.94 million units.
Curiously, the classic Switch is now more popular than the fully portable Switch Lite. In three months, Nintendo sold 5.31 million firsts and 1.55 million seconds. Obviously, most people would rather pay extra for the Switch’s versatility and want to be able to switch between portable, desktop, and TV modes. This makes sense because games are expensive anyway. In addition, many people are now sitting at home, and there is little point in a purely portable console.
When it comes to games, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is especially worth noting. It continues to sell well, with 3.64 million copies purchased in the quarter. This is significantly less than 10.63 million in the previous three months, but total sales to date have already exceeded 26.02 million. This is the second best-selling game on Switch, but now it is behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe by only 2.95 million copies. However, there were few new offers from Nintendo for the reporting quarter. Paper Mario: The Origami King sold 2.82 million copies and Super Mario 3D All-Stars sold 5.21 million.
The current quarter is also promising to be good. On October 1, the company released Super Mario Bros. 35 for Switch Online members; October 16 – Races with Mario Kart Live toy models; October 22 – the second part of the DLC Pokémon Sword and Shield; An updated version of Pikmin 3, originally released on Wii U in 2013, is unveiled the day before Halloween. Switch fans are still waiting for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity this year, as well as a re-release of the original RPG Fire Emblem (Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light) from the Famicom era.
How will Switch compete with new systems from Microsoft and Sony this holiday season? Hard to tell. Nintendo’s offerings are so unique in the industry that many view them as separate from the competition. However, Nintendo is slated to release a new nostalgic gadget this winter: a special Game & Watch version with a Super Mario Bros. for the NES, The Lost Levels, and an updated version of Ball featuring Mario.
