As we all know, the weekend following Thanksgiving has become one of the biggest shopping seasons of the year. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals help promote it, for sure, as many people begin to check of large chunks of their holiday shopping lists. Video games are often near the top of the list, and Nintendo’s Wii console was their big dog in holiday sales — key word: was. Nintendo had quite the Thanksgiving season again this year.
According to their press release, “The Nintendo Switch set two new records.” Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday 2018, Switch surpassed the Wii to become “the best-selling Nintendo console in U.S. history for that five-day period.” On top of that, Nintendo Switch was the top-selling video game product for Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, helping Nintendo to bring in over $250 million in sales (this includes all game sales, consoles, and other Nintendo products and accessories). In fact, this year, Nintendo had a 45% spike over their hardware sales from 2017.
Be sure to check out all the stats below for Nintendo Switch, 3DS, and Classic systems.
Unless otherwise noted, the following data from Nintendo covers Nov. 22 to Nov. 26, and is specific to the U.S. only:
Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Switch hardware sales grew 115 percent compared to the same period in 2017.
- Lifetime sales of Nintendo Switch, which is entering only its second holiday season, have reached more than 8.2 million units.
- Sales of first-party games, including digital downloads, topped 1 million units Nov. 22-26, beating 2017’s totals by 78 percent.
- Nintendo Switch games Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! have hit combined U.S. sales of more than 1.5 million units since their Nov. 16 launch.
- Super Mario Party surpassed lifetime U.S. sales of 1 million units, becoming the fastest-selling game in the Mario Party series and the fifth million-selling first-party Nintendo Switch game in the U.S. alone, joining The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey and Splatoon 2.
Nintendo 3DS
- Thanks in part to strong Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday sales, the total installed base for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems has hit 22 million.
- Additionally, after 12 months of availability, lifetime combined sales of the Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon games crossed 2.2 million.
Classic Gaming Systems
- Also aided by strong Nov. 22-26 sales, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition system surpassed lifetime sales of 2.5 million.
- And the Nintendo Entertainment System: NES Classic Edition system surpassed lifetime sales of 2 million.
[Source: PR Email from Nintendo of America]
Steve is the Senior Editor of NintendoFuse and co-host of the NintendoFuse Podcast. He’s been a Nintendo gamer since age 6 and has been on staff with NintendoFuse since 2008.