It’s no surprise by now that Nintendo had a stellar year in 2017, thanks to the hugely successful Nintendo Switch. This week Nintendo proudly shared an impressive stat: the Nintendo Switch has become the fastest-selling home video game system in the United States. The Switch has sold more than 4.8 million units in its first 10 months of release, according to Nintendo’s internal sales numbers. The previous record holder was Nintendo’s own Wii, which sold 4 million units in the same time frame.
“Fans across the country have experienced the joy of playing their favorite games at home or on the go,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s President and COO. “Now that many more people have received Nintendo Switch systems for the holidays, we look forward to bringing them fun new surprises in 2018 and beyond.”
The Switch has been bolstered by an incredibly strong lineup of first party games. Not every year gives us mainline Mario and Zelda games. Both The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey were strong contenders for Game of the Year. Nintendo revealed that 60% of Switch owners purchased Super Mario Odyssey, while 55% own Breath of the Wild. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also surpassed 50% ownership rate.
The other big success story is the amount of third party support that has flocked to the Switch. Nintendo received a lot of justifiable flak for the lack of third party games over the last decade with the Wii and Wii U. Big developers like Bethesda, Capcom, and Ubisoft have flocked to the new console with AAA games like Skyrim, Street Fighter, and Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. Indie companies are also developing for the Switch, porting favorites like Stardew Valley, SteamWorld Dig 2, and Overcooked.
As noted in our Most Anticipated Games list, there’s a host of games to be excited about for the Switch in 2018, including new Yoshi, new Kirby, and Bayonetta 3. And down the road there’s Metroid Prime 4 and that mysterious Switch-focused Pokémon game. Right now it’s good to be Nintendo, and even better to be a Nintendo fan.
