The NTDOY Nintendo Switch, released in its sixth year, reached a significant accomplishment by surpassing the total lifetime sales of the Wii in the U.S.
This achievement is based on data from Circana, formerly NPD, indicating robust growth in the U.S. video game industry, particularly in hardware.
Is the Nintendo Switch the same as the Wii U?
Switch's success is a result of titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which sold more than 18 million copies by June 2023, driving console sales.
The Switch and other consoles have also had a robust performance due to the fact that they are available.
Nintendo sold more than 129.5 million units worldwide, with 49 million sold in the Americas, while specific U.S. Switch hardware sales figures were not provided by Circana.
In its first six years, the Switch outsold the Wii, a remarkable achievement considering the Wii's popularity, as it sold more than 100 million units worldwide, driven by titles like Wii Sports and its innovative motion controls, which appealed to a broad audience.
The Switch is slightly behind the Xbox 360 by less than a million units and trails the PS 2 by fewer than five million units.
According to a VGC report earlier this month, Nintendo is developing a next-gen console for release in late 2024 and already provided development kits to key partner studios. The upcoming console will introduce a portable mode like the Switch and will launch with an LCD screen instead of OLED to manage costs for improved graphics.
Nintendo Next-Gen console to be released in 2024 with a surprising screen choice: