Reported by Nintendo Life and GoNintendo, there’s been a pretty surprising explosive growth for the console side of big N’s business. According to new reports on the Japanese market, the Nintendo Switch has reached 10,432,570 units in lifetime sales, and that surpasses the last running total for a major Sony console, the Playstation 3. The PS3 had sold 10,248,867 units by 2016 in Japan.
Don’t make the mistake of underestimating Sony though. The PS5 is on track for a 2020 release, and is riding on a huge wave of hype. The Playstation brand just celebrated its 25th anniversary, and has shifted millions of console in that time across the four generations. The PS4 alone has shifted 100 million consoles so far, setting a record for Sony. And in 2020 when the new console generation kicks off, things are about to get a lot more competitive.
The growth of the Switch is due in large part to a very successful mixed strategy from Nintendo. Amazing first-party support has seem ports and rehashes of almost every major Nintendo franchise on the mobile-focused console. The flood of indie titles that the Switch has received has also no doubt helped bolster sales. Nintendo has given console releases to games that otherwise wouldn’t have one, which is great for everybody. The introduction of the Switch Lite also helped buoy support for the platform later in its life cycle.
Nintendo previously released lifetime sales numbers for all of their major gaming efforts, showing the Switch nipping at the heels of some of Nintendo’s best sellers. The console has already beaten the Wii U’s lifetime sales of 13.56 million units. The next feat for the Switch to pull off will be to outsell the original Wii, which sold a remarkable 101.63 million units over the course of its lifespan, with around 12 million of those in Japan.