Nintendo Switch sales have eclipsed the 3DS, closing in on the Game Boy Advance

[midian182]

Bottom line: Who could have predicted the Nintendo Switch, a hybrid console that was met with some derision when first revealed in 2016, would outsell the company’s popular 3DS family in just under three years?

Nintendo in its latest financial report revealed that 79.87 million Switch devices have now shipped worldwide. The figure leapfrogs the Switch above the 3DS family on the list of best-selling consoles of all time, and it could soon eclipse the Game Boy Advance series’ 81.5 million sales.

The Switch still has a long way to go before catching Nintendo’s DS family—the second best-selling console of all time sold 154 million units. It’s followed in third place by the Game Boy & Game Boy Color (118 million) and sixth-place Wii (101 million).

During the nine months ending December 31, 2020, there were 24.1 million Switch units shipped— an increase of 35.8 percent year-on-year and its most successful period so far. 16.7 million of these were the standard Switch, while the Switch Lite made up the remaining 7.3 million.

Switch software sales reached 176.10 million units, a 43 percent YoY jump. Digital sales made up 40.9 percent of these, up 12.3 percent YoY.

A massive 532.34 million Switch games have sold since it arrived in March 2017.

Looking closer at game sales, Animal Crossing: New Horizons has now sold 31.18 million copies since launching last March, pushing it ever closer to the Switch’s best-selling game, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (33.41 million). It was also a good nine months for Super Mario 3D All-Stars, which sold 8.32 million.

In its first year of launch, the Nintendo Switch sold more units than the Wii U managed across its lifespan. Nintendo Switch sales overtook the Nintendo 64 (34 million) in April 2019 and passed the SNES (52 million) in January 2020

The Switch could get another boost this year with the rumored launch of an upgraded variant of the console called the Super Switch—possibly a tribute to the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/88474-nintendo-switch-sales-have-eclipsed-3ds-closing-game.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The Gameboy Advance SP was what Gameboy should have been, earlier. Instead: Nintendo wasted their time and our money building Game Boy colors, pockets, and other garbage. Meanwhile, GAME GEAR had a color screen and rechargeable NiMH batteries very, very early. Had Lithium Ion Batteries been available when Game Gear was big, they'd probably still be on the market.

That said: Switch is a single console portable that costs way more than any Gameboy/ Advance ever did. Should they really be compared?

 

[SirDigby]

Wholesome news, I love the Nintendo Switch! I love how its a hybrid handheld, I can play while watching TV with my partner in the evenings, or I can have it on the big screen to play Smash Bros with the lads!

 

[Theinsanegamer]

It likely wont touch the DS sales. Switch sales boomed, but the market is now more saturated and as we go back to work demand will drop. Prices of the switch are already returning to nromalcy on ebay.

That being said if switch sales continue that would be fun. The game library would just keep getting better with that many units available. I'm getting shades of the PS2.

The Gameboy Advance SP was what Gameboy should have been, earlier. Instead: Nintendo wasted their time and our money building Game Boy colors, pockets, and other garbage. Meanwhile, GAME GEAR had a color screen and rechargeable NiMH batteries very, very early. Had Lithium Ion Batteries been available when Game Gear was big, they'd probably still be on the market.

That said: Switch is a single console portable that costs way more than any Gameboy/ Advance ever did. Should they really be compared?

That fancy screen really helped out the game gear's sales, right?

Oh wait, it didnt, and those "Garbage" game boys, colors, ece all sold rediculously well. It's also funny you think the GBA SP should have come out way earlier then it did, the OG game boy sucked through 4 AA batteries, how bad do you think a larger, full color, backlit screen and more powerful processor would have been?

Here's a hint: the game gear got 3-4 hours on 6 AA batteries. The GBA got 10-12 hours on 2 AA batteries. Do the math.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I LOVED my original Gameboy! Who needs colour anyways? I'm Red/Green colourblind and every so often I dust off the old Gameboy to play Tetris or Dr. Mario (Mortal Kombat hasn't aged quite as well)...

It's hard to actually compare sales across eras... When the Gameboy came out, there were far fewer people who thought gaming was mainstream - but there was also far less competition....

Kind of like Gone with the Wind movie sales vs Star Wars.... or Titanic...