There was a time, not so long ago, where the future of Nintendo as a major gaming company was in doubt. The Wii U had failed to reach the Wii’s numbers, and had proven a big financial loss. However, Nintendo Switch sales have now seen the company on the rebound for this generation in the US.
The Nintendo Switch was the new and improved (and some might even say perfected) version of the Wii U, having a similar concept but more fine-tuned to be more distinct and better than the Wii U. It’s so much improved, in fact, that it’s proven to be the fastest-selling console of this generation, even over the Xbox One and Playstation 4. The console, only around 21 months old at this point, has sold 8.7 million units, outpacing sales of other US consoles at this point in their lifespan.
Ever since it released on March 3 of 2017, the Nintendo Switch has been blessed with a variety of critically acclaimed first-party games that saw a huge increase in Nintendo Switch sales, including games like Splatoon 2, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and most recently Super Smash Bros Ultimate, along with a number of remakes and ports like Mario Kart 8 and Pokken Tournament, plus third-party titles from many major games.
Considering the many problems with the Wii U, ranging from mediocre game lists to not being distinct enough from the original Wii, the Switch has been a blessing for Nintendo, especially since even despite a number of well-received releases like Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros, and Splatoon, the Wii U’s failure to truly grab audiences caused Nintendo a great deal of worry.
But now, with so many good games helping to move systems, it’s no real surprise that Nintendo Switch sales are so high and so fast, especially considering how many copies Super Smash Bros Ultimate is selling (being around 3 million copies in 11 days). Hopefully the Switch will be able to keep up this trend for the rest of this generation as well.
