Nintendo has a pretty stellar track record in the gaming industry. While not all of the company’s consoles have been the same, the best is far from disappointing. For every Virtual Boy, Nintendo released an NES, SNES, and Game Boy, and for every Wii U, Nintendo released the Wii, DS, and 3DS. And now, five years after its initial release, the Nintendo Switch proved to be one of Nintendo’s best console deals ever.
First released in 2017, the Nintendo Switch had a somewhat mixed reception at launch. While the console itself was quite innovative, offering a hybrid handheld/home console experience like no other had at the time, early adopters didn’t have much to play with on their shiny new devices. But five years later, the general reception surrounding the Switch has changed dramatically and it has quickly become one of the most successful consoles of all time. At the moment, the Nintendo Switch shows absolutely no signs of stopping, and at five years old, it’s likely that the Switch can outlast the competition.
Nintendo Switch shows no signs of stopping
Over the past five years, the Nintendo Switch has sold more units than most consoles see in their entire lifespan. In just its first week, Nintendo announced that the Switch was the company’s best-selling console, rivaling the opening week sales of the PlayStation 4. In its first month, the Switch sold 2.74 million units worldwide. and by the time of its first anniversary, the Switch had reached over 16 million units. As per the latest reports, Nintendo Switch has reached 107.65 million sales worldwide, but this number keeps growing every week.
Nintendo Switch has already surpassed lifetime sales of the Wii U, GameCube, N64, NES, 3DS, Game Boy Advance and even the Wii, one of the most successful consoles of all time. While sales aren’t necessarily equated with a console’s popularity, that’s certainly the case with the Nintendo Switch, easily outperforming its Xbox One and PS4 competitors. Switch sales also continued to grow despite the launch of the Xbox Series X/S and PS5. It’s very rare for a console to remain relevant beyond its own generation, let alone continue to reach new audiences and earn more sales.
As long as the Switch is still popular and selling units, Nintendo is unlikely to shut it down. This year, several excellent titles have been released for the Switch, and their list is far from over, with games like Splatoon 3 and bayonet 3 is yet to come this year. Likewise, Nintendo also has a lot of top-notch AAA games for the Switch in 2023, ensuring the console lives to be at least 7 years old.
On average, the lifespan of a modern video game console is around five years. While Sony and Microsoft fit into this trend, it’s especially true for Nintendo, with the SNES, N64, Game Cube, and Wii all lasting just over five years before the console’s next iteration launches. That said, there have been discrepancies over the years, with the Xbox 360 lasting eight years, and the PlayStation 3 and NES lasting seven. It’s more than possible that the Nintendo Switch will end up becoming one of those outliers. With a crowded slate on the horizon, sales refusing to let up, and console revisions and models allowing for even more sales over time, the Nintendo Switch may well outlive the competition.
0 Comments