With the popularity of the Nintendo Switch, it would probably be no surprise if it was one day announced to be among the top three best selling video game consoles. And now, following the company’s third quarter earnings report, that’s exactly what it is – the third best selling video game device of all time.
According to the report, the Nintendo Switch and all of its variants have sold a total of 122.55 million devices since the first one released back in 2017. To break it down, 88.67 million were of the original model, including the one with the better battery life; the newest OLED model coming in at an impressive 13.49 million; and the Lite model which sold 20.4 million units.
While the Nintendo Switch as a family has a pretty impressive sale numbers over the course of its life, it still trails behind the Nintendo DS line. Accounting for all its variants that came before the 3DS family came about, the DS sold a total of 154.02 million units over the course of its life. Top dog when it comes to most popular video games console of all time is still the PS2, which sold over 155 million units.
The Nintendo Switch is pretty much set in its spot as third most popular too, from the looks of it. The next special edition of the handheld console hybrid is the one for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of a Kingdom, which is expected to come alongside the game in three months’ time. But it’s difficult to imagine this one helping the company push another 30 million units.
Furthermore, what may have been a mid-generation Nintendo Switch model is also rumoured to be cancelled internally, which will keep its total sales numbers more or less stable. Its successor is also unlikely to be added to its tally, the same way Nintendo separates the Game Boy Advance from the original, and the 3DS from the DS.
(Source: Nintendo [1, PDF], [2])
