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Nintendo Switch Has Sold 10 Million Units to Date

Nintendo is boasting that its Switch hybrid console has sold 10 million units worldwide in the first nine months of release, helped by Black Friday promotions.

The console’s relatively robust sales (as measured internally through the end of November 2017) come as Nintendo has encountered some manufacturing bottlenecks in its supply chain, which the company has moved to address. The Nintendo Switch carries a list price of $300 — so the sale of 10 million units translates into more than $3 billion in revenue related to the product. Released this past March, the system had sold 7.63 million units globally through the end of September.

One of the key selling points of the dual-use system is that it can be connected to a TV like a traditional console or undocked and used as a mobile device. “It’s a powerful idea for a gamer to never have to leave their game experience behind,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, president and COO of Nintendo of America. “That’s been a cornerstone of our strong performance to date.”

The original Nintendo Wii, launched in 2006, sold more than 100 million units and remains the company’s best-selling console to date. Fils-Aime said it’s possible that the Switch will top the first-year sales of the Wii, if momentum remain strong through the holiday-shopping season.

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The company isn’t breaking out where current U.S. sales of the Nintendo Switch stand. It previously said that through the end of October, it had sold more than 2.6 million Switch systems in the U.S.

In October, Nintendo raised projections for Switch shipments for its fiscal year ending March 2018 from 10 million to 14 million units. That would put the Nintendo Switch at 16.7 million units sold in its first year of release, on pace to exceed lifetime sales of the Nintendo Wii U (which shipped 13.6 million units over a five-year period).

The lineup of Nintendo-published games also has fueled fueling Switch sales, Fils-Aime said. Three titles have been purchased by more than 50% of Switch owners: “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” — which won game of the year at the 2017 Game Awards — “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe,” and “Super Mario Odyssey.” Another title, third-person shooter “Splatoon 2,” has been purchased by one in four Switch owners, he said.

“Typically if you have a title where one out of five owners have bought a game, that’s strong,” Fils-Aime said. “That helps drive sell-through of the console.”

Nintendo also has seen good support for the Switch from big game publishers like EA and Ubisoft, as well as independent developers, he added.

For 2018, Nintendo Switch games on tap include Nintendo-published titles like “Kirby Star Allies,” “Bayonetta,” “Bayonetta 2” and a new game in the Yoshi franchise. Forthcoming third-party games include Bethesda’s “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus,” Capcom’s “Mega Man 11” and Square Enix’s “Project Octopath Traveler” (working title).

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