The Nintendo Switch continued its record-breaking streak today.
Nintendo has announced that 4.8 million Switch consoles were sold in the United States in 2017, making it the fastest-selling console of all time. The previous record holder, the Wii, sold four million consoles in the US during its first ten month on sale in 2006-2007.
“Fans across the country have experienced the joy of playing their favorite games at home or on the go,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s President and COO. “Now that many more people have received Nintendo Switch systems for the holidays, we look forward to bringing them fun new surprises in 2018 and beyond.”
As part of the announcement, the consolemaker also revealed a few impressive sales figures for a handful of first-party games. Super Mario Odyssey was the Switch’s best-selling game during its first calendar year, and more than 60% of Switch owners in the US purchased the game (which translates to about 2.9 million copies). It was followed closely by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of Wild, which is owned by 55% of Switch owners (totaling 2.6 million copies). In third place, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was purchased by 50% of Switch owners (for sales of 2.4 million copies) and Splatoon 2 inked an ownership agreement with 20% of Switch owners (totaling almost a million copies in sales).
Finally, Nintendo confirmed that Switch owners can look forward to new games from EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Capcom, Sega, Take Two, and Bethesda in 2018. This is interesting as EA, Activision, and Take Two have yet to announce any further games for the Switch. So I guess we can look forward to announcements from all three companies in the very near future.
