During this past quarter alone, the Switch sold 2.13 million units, which is an increase from last year’s 1.88 million.
Nintendo connects the healthy hardware sales to equally healthy software sales. Total software sales amounted to 22.62 million units, which is an increase of more than 5 million from the same time last year, bringing software sales for the Switch’s lifetime thus far up to 210.13 million.
The excellent Super Mario Maker 2 alone sold 2.42 million copies in just three days. With continued updates planned for improving the game’s quality of life and so many courses to experience, those numbers will probably continue to climb.
It’s not all about new software, though. Most of Nintendo’s highly anticipated titles launch later this year, but evergreen software continues to hold strong. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, sold 1.2 million units in the previous quarter, bringing its total sales up to 17.89 million.
This might seem like just a bunch of numbers, but here’s some reference to put things in context.
The Nintendo 3DS has been on the market for eight years now, and the Switch for two and a half. However, as of this past quarter, total software sales for the 3DS are at 379.60 million. The 3DS family of systems total hardware sales is at 75.28 million.
In other words, the Switch is doing very well indeed. The 3DS continues to decline, of course, and will only continue to drop off, while the Switch is getting a hardware upgrade and a new form with the Nintendo Switch Lite.
Future comparisons would need to take into account the other big sellers on the market — and it’s arguable the Switch is already rivaling Sony’s PlayStation 4 in terms of total sales over the course of its lifetime.
