Nintendo is on a roll, with the Nintendo Switch already outselling the lifetime sales of the Nintendo Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS still going strong.
The Nintendo Switch has exceeded all expectations over its first 10 months, and now the target of the hybrid console is to chase the legacy left behind by the Nintendo Wii.
Nintendo Switch Outsold Wii U In Just 10 Months
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal's Takashi Mochizuki, Ace Research Institute estimated that worldwide Nintendo Switch sales may have reached 7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017. This would bring the total sales of the Nintendo Switch since its March 2017 launch to over 14.6 million units, spurred by December sales that saw the hybrid console reassert its dominance over the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
If the estimate is accurate, that would mean that in 10 months, the Nintendo Switch has outsold the Wii U's lifetime sales over four years of 13.56 million units. The Nintendo Switch sales figure already exceeds the Nintendo forecast of 14 million units sold by the end of March 2018, which is when the hybrid console was initially expected to overtake the Wii U's lifetime sales.
The milestone shows both the success of the Nintendo Switch and the failure of the Wii U. While the Wii U never showed any signs of matching the Wii, the Nintendo Switch is on track to become one of the best-selling consoles in history.
Nintendo is already looking ahead for the Nintendo Switch, as the hybrid console looks to match the Wii's lifetime sales of over 100 million units. Innovations such as the Nintendo Labo will certainly help in getting the Nintendo Switch to that point.
Nintendo 3DS Still Going Strong
Before the launch of the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime said that the hybrid console and the handheld 3DS will "live side-by-side" and "coexist just fine."
A year later, it appears that Fils-Aime's statements hold true. According to Nintendo, while the Nintendo Switch dominated December, the 3DS also showed resurgence, booking the handheld console's best sales month since December 2014 on the back of Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon. The various versions of the 3DS sold over 750,000 units in the United States in December, which is a 27 percent jump compared to December 2016.
When the Nintendo Switch was announced, the popular assumption was that the hybrid console will cannibalize sales of the portable 3DS. However, that apparently has not happened, as the 3DS is still going strong.
