Last year was a big one for the folks at Nintendo. The massively successful launch of the Switch along with the SNES Classic Edition and some of the best first party titles in history helped propel the company to new heights after the somewhat disappointing Wii U era. Today, Nintendo announced that its latest hardware is now the fastest selling console in U.S. history.
Many of you likely remember when Wii took over the world back in 2006, but it sounds as though Switch has now surpassed the groundbreaking seventh-generation console.
According to Nintendo’s internal sales estimates, the Switch has sold more than 4.8 million units in the first 10 months since its launch back in March of 2016. The company said that is the highest selling home video game console in U.S. history in that timeframe. The previous record holder was Nintendo’s Wii console, which clocked in at over 4 million units sold in its first 10 months.
That’s the highest total for the first 10 months of any home video game system in U.S. history, surpassing Nintendo’s own Wii system, which was the previous record holder with more than four million units sold during the same timeframe.
After some felt the quirky hybrid nature of Nintendo’s latest generation home console might hurt sales, strong marketing and some of the best first-party games in years have toppled most early sales projections at this point.
Some of Nintendo’s best rated games in history played a major role in the success story, but it’s unclear how much farther Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild will carry Switch.
According to Nintendo, around 60% of Switch owners already own one or both titles, so the company is going to have to reach into its stable of gaming icons to keep the momentum moving forward.
Keep in mind, we are still likely to see some kind of Super Smash title, Pokémon, something more from Donkey Kong, and even a new Mario Kart at some point in the future. But as of right now, the teased Metroid title, Yoshi’s upcoming game, and Kirby Star Allies are the most anticipated titles on the horizon.
While it may have delayed its 64GB Switch game cartridges to 2019, Nintendo still has a few tricks left up its sleeve for this year. Beyond that, Nintendo dominated the Amazon best-selling games list, and took home 2017 Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
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