Nintendo Switch Overtakes Wii U Lifetime Sales in Less Than a Year!

Nintendo has always been an iconic giant in the gaming industry. It has cemented itself as the top company for family-friendly games while also creating experiences that adults can enjoy. Whether that’s through games like Animal Crossing which is perfect for both children and adults or by unintentionally making Mario Kart 7 one of the top cannabis activities to do while high, it doesn’t matter! With all this being said, they were hit pretty hard by the underperforming Wii U so they had to come back strong with their next release, and they’ve managed to do just this.

That’s right, it was predicted but now it’s officially come to fruition. Nintendo released their earnings for 2017 and the Switch has now sold 14.86 million systems as of December 31, 2017. To put it in perspective, the Wii U sold 13.56 million since it released back in 2012. This is fantastic news for Nintendo as they start 2018 with a goal of selling 20 million units within the fiscal year.

Nintendo also released some sales figures for their highest selling games per platform.

For the Switch:

Super Mario Odyssey – 9.07 million units
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 7.33 million units (Up 2.91M units)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 6.7 million units (Up 2M units)
Splatoon 2 – 4.91 million units (Up 1.3M units)
1-2-Switch – 1.88 million units (Up 0.51M units)
ARMS – 1.61 million units (Up 0.26M units)
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 – 1.06 million units

On the 3DS side:

Mario Kart 7 – 16.76 million units (Up 0.81M units)
Pokémon X/Y – 16.26 million units (Up 0.06M units)
Pokémon Sun/Moon – 16.05 million units (Up 0.14M units)
Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – 13.94 million units (Up 0.09M units)
New Super Mario Bros. 2 – 12.43 million units (Up 0.7M units)
Super Mario 3D Land – 11.77 million units (Up 0.37M units)
Animal Crossing: New Leaf – 11.59 million units (Up 0.36M units)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS – 9.16 million units (Up 0.25M units)
Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon 7.17 million units
Tomodachi Life – 6.14 million units (Up 0.21M units)

For the amiibo hunter in all of us:

9.30 million units sold for figure-type and approximately 5.00 million units sold for card-type.

If you enjoy digital, the Eshop sales:

Total download sales are up to 43.1 billion yen (87% increase on a year-on-year basis).

And to put it into perspective, here’s the Wii U’s biggest sellers:

Mario Kart 8 – 8.4 million units (Up 0.02M units)
New Super Mario Bros. U – 5.75 million units (Up 0.02M units)
Super Mario 3D World – 5.75 million units (Up 0.05M units)
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U – 5.32 million units (Up 0.06M units)
Nintendo Land – 5.19 million units (Up 0.01M units)
Splatoon – 4.91 million units (Up 0.04M units)
Super Mario Maker – 3.99 million units (Up 0.01M units)
New Super Luigi U – 3.02 million units (Up 0.03M units)
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – 2.25 million units (Up 0.02M units)
Mario Party 10 – 2.16 million units (Up 0.03M units)

If you want more info, you can read the entire sales report here. For a more direct look at their system sales, you can go here. If you’re curious about software sales, then click here.

What do you think about Nintendo’s latest financial report? Let us know in the comments below! How do you see 2018 shaping up?