There was a moment in time for gamers, as recently as a year ago, that Nintendo was potentially losing their stranglehold on bringing out industry-changing consoles. Nintendo’s efforts with the WiiU were hardly inspired, despite modest commercial and critical success, and fans seemed ready to roll their eyes at the Nintendo Switch when it was first released. However, defying all odds this unconventional console has fundamentally re-shaped the gaming industry at least for the time being. Nintendo meticulously blended handheld and console-based gaming into a package that attracted veteran gamers and casual hobbyists alike. Now, it looks like all of this hard work is starting to really pay off.
With a strong sales push to close out the year, Nintendo is propping the Switch up as a juggernaut in terms of units sold. Right now, the highest-selling console of all time is the PlayStation 2 which racked up 155 million units sold all around the world. The Nintendo Switch is currently on pace to outstrip that global number which would make it the biggest, most successful gaming release in the history of the medium. Safe to say, Nintendo is happy with these results.
While it is impossible to extrapolate numbers to an accurate degree in terms of breaking the PS2’s record, we can look at how well the console is doing in Japan in order to lock in some specific data. The Nintendo Switch is currently on pace to crack the PS2s record for units sold in Japan through its first year. The PS2 sold just over 3 million units in Japan through the first year of its release and the Nintendo Switch is already brushing up against that number.
For all of this talk regarding sales, really content is the king of everything. Nintendo has been forward-focused on changing the way they approach stocking their library with content. Nintendo has opened the doors for more mature titles to make their way to the platform, shrugging away the exclusivity that family titles seemed to dominate Nintendo’s shelf. A few notable titles that push the rating limit a bit include ‘Skyrim’ and the newly released ‘Doom’ port, both of which have gained serious critical and commercial acclaim. With that being said, Nintendo continues to impress with their rock-solid IP. ‘Mario Odyssey’ and ‘Breath of the Wild’ are both contenders for Game of the Year on a number of different lists and they’ve become console-selling titles of their own.
