Nintendo’s Fiscal Year 2021 ended March 31, and the annual sales report would make even Bowser smile. Switch sales were up 37% compared to last year, with the original Switch selling over 20 million units, and the Switch Lite selling over 8.5 million.
The new sales numbers bring the lifetime sales of the Switch to just under 85 million. That puts it right around the same unit sales numbers as the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, though still quite a ways away from the next big milestone, Nintendo’s own infamously best-seller Wii at 101 million.
Given the Switch’s incredibly successful sales numbers years after its launch, it’s easy to see the Switch overtaking the Wii as soon as next year.
Big software movers were attributed to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which released over a year ago and sold just over 20 million copies. Other big sellers included Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (10 million) and Ring Fit Adventure (7 million). There were a total of 36 million-seller titles in the 2021 Fiscal Year.
Digital sales accounted for about 40%, revealing a slight increase of 8.8% compared to last year.
For this year (the Fiscal Year ending in 2022), Nintendo has first-party games Miitopia, Mario Golf: Super Rush, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. On the mobile side, Nintendo is working with Niantic (Pokémon GO) to release a mobile app based on the Pikmin franchise.
