The Nintendo Switch is on a spree! After exceeding 5 million sold units in Japan last month, the handheld-home console hybrid has achieved a new milestone with 22.86 million units sold, officially surpassing the GameCube's 21.74 million units during its lifetime and nearly doubling that of the WiiU.

The news come from the Big N's latest financial data on dedicated video game sales units. You can compare the data with other systems' lifetime sales with the image below:

Sitting on the throne is the Nintendo DS with a whooping 154.02 million units shipped while at the bottom of the ladder is the WiiU with a mere 13.56 million units sold. Given the current trend, the Switch is in line to overtake the Nintendo 64, which sold 32.93 million units. Do you think the Switch has what it takes? How much do you predict the console will sell during its lifetime?

SOURCE

 

[Yepi69]

I wanna see it outsell the PS2.

 

[osaka35]

Well, that, and the mini DVD format was limiting compared to full sized DVDs, a lot of games were never ported over. 1.35 GB vs 4.7 GB, it's a shame really.

a full-sized dvd would have changed the game, really. one of those great what-ifs. wonder if there were licensing fees they were trying to avoid with that silly decision.

 

[the_randomizer]

a full-sized dvd would have changed the game, really. one of those great what-ifs. wonder if there were licensing fees they were trying to avoid with that silly decision.

And to supposedly curtail piracy, but...was it worth it?

 

[FAST6191]

The Wii is not a fluke. It's the second best Nintendo console of all time. With the Wii U only beating it by default due to backwards compatibility and HD for Wii U games.

From where I sit a very large fraction of its sales were non traditional markets, and while I am sure Nintendo's execs were laughing all the way to bank with that it merits consideration in all this. I then look at the software and it dried hard and fast. Said software for me also failed to capture the generation (there is a reason we had terms like wii60), be a bastion of gameplay styles otherwise forgotten (I am not counting its feeble attempt at light gun games), or offer something so outstanding as to otherwise define things.

 

[smf]

And to supposedly curtail piracy, but...was it worth it?

The discs were small because it was designed as a console purely for young children (hence the colour scheme).

They were caught by surprise when everyone ignored that and wrote more mature games for it.

 

[gameboy]

damn i forgot that the gamecube was a colossal failure

 

[TheMrIron2]

Well, that, and the mini DVD format was limiting compared to full sized DVDs, a lot of games were never ported over. 1.35 GB vs 4.7 GB, it's a shame really.

On top of that, many people only get one console per generation, and the fact the PS2 could play DVDs made it the best choice for a lot of families. The GameCube didn't have the same versatility so it was often relegated to second choice and was competing for that spot with Xbox.

 

[spotanjo3]

It was a nice success but no 3rd party supporting for brand new games instead of ports from ps3/360 and sometimes from ps4. Come on!

 

[netovsk]

But will it outsell the Wii?

 

[Rahkeesh]

But will it outsell the Wii?

No. Grandma ain't ever getting a Switch.

Don't forget that the DS success was basically the same thing. Tons of people's first exposure to touch games, before they clogged up their phones.

 

[Bladexdsl]

yeah you know what sales figures mean absolutely NOTHING to gamers. all that matters is the games...REAL GAMES not fucking ports and indies! and switch dropped the ball big fucking time this year. i absolutely love only playing one decent game the whole fucking year for it ODYSSEY.

sorry not interested in smash no sp mode no buy

 

[Sathya]

why you dont say ''has officially outsold the WII U?

 

[ferret7463]

that is not a tall bar to jump over....

 

[The Real Jdbye]

To each their own, both consoles have fantastic libraries



And in less than two years has reached 1/5 of the Wii sales so I figure it will probably get close-ish to that when it reaches the end of its lifespan. Maybe.

We will see once Smash and next year's Pokemon is released. Those two are going to be heavy system sellers and should give us an idea of what kind of sales the Switch might reach.
A lot of people are probably holding off until those games. Nintendo has basically no competition in the handheld market right now other than their own 3DS platform, and that's slowly dying off so over time I expect a lot of people who were happy with their 3DS up until now to finally take the plunge and get a Switch as well.

 

[the_randomizer]

We will see once Smash and next year's Pokemon is released. Those two are going to be heavy system sellers and should give us an idea of what kind of sales the Switch might reach.
A lot of people are probably holding off until those games. Nintendo has basically no competition in the handheld market right now other than their own 3DS platform, and that's slowly dying off so over time I expect a lot of people who were happy with their 3DS up until now to finally take the plunge and get a Switch as well.

I hope so, the 3DS really needs to be let go of already

 

[pasc]

Let's hope the "3rd party train" will now take its direction to switch Station aswell...
Some Rockstargames. A bit of Square Enix. A lot of Capcom. Thats what'd be great.

*crosses fingers for th3 5w1tch"

Add': Kind of amazing eitherhow, how people still buy consoles/handhelds (whatever category you want to thrust the switch into) in the day of "portable gaming on smartphone". Kind of makes me glad (as I despise "gaming on mobile" even with a 'gamepad')

 

[Silent_Gunner]

From where I sit a very large fraction of its sales were non traditional markets, and while I am sure Nintendo's execs were laughing all the way to bank with that it merits consideration in all this. I then look at the software and it dried hard and fast. Said software for me also failed to capture the generation (there is a reason we had terms like wii60), be a bastion of gameplay styles otherwise forgotten (I am not counting its feeble attempt at light gun games), or offer something so outstanding as to otherwise define things.

I know people hate remasters, but honestly, with Metroid Prime 4, I think it'd be neat to see Nintendo re-release the Metroid Prime Trilogy and try to make both motion controls and traditional control schemes work for all three games, with some customization (wouldn't it be cool to be able to aim like other FPS games with the traditional setup? I know I'd love it!). Does anyone know how well the Joy-Cons would translate how the Wii's motion controls work, with or without a potential emulator? Or would this be too tall of an order, considering how many Wii games would probably be left out of these remaster attempts? (No More Heroes, the Trauma Center games, basically anything that was niche and wasn't trash waiting to join it's brothers and sisters in Alamogordo, New Mexico)

 

[Song of storms]

Noob. Get on the Wii level, then we can talk.

 

[Spider_Man]

Well, that, and the mini DVD format was limiting compared to full sized DVDs, a lot of games were never ported over. 1.35 GB vs 4.7 GB, it's a shame really.

A fair few ps2 games weren't 4gb or more until next the end.

Cube didn't get the ports because Nintendo made it a child's play thing with its littered usual brightly coloured games aimed for kids.

The cube was the time I started to hate Nintendo for lacking support and it kept getting worse and worse but now it's shit hardware to blame.

 

[the_randomizer]

A fair few ps2 games weren't 4gb or more until next the end.

Cube didn't get the ports because Nintendo made it a child's play thing with its littered usual brightly coloured games aimed for kids.

The cube was the time I started to hate Nintendo for lacking support and it kept getting worse and worse but now it's shit hardware to blame.

Even though it had a more powerful CPU and GPU than the PS2, but that's besides the point, but whatever.