Nintendo Switch sales surge past those of the 3DS

Nintendo has revealed that sales of their Nintendo Switch gaming consoles have surpassed those of the 3DS, their predecessor. This is despite the fact that they’ve been available for a much shorter period. 

Record Profit

The Japanese developers confirmed that 79.87 units had been sold since its launch in March 2017, contributing to a record profit of 377bn yen ($3.6bn) for the April—December period.

The switch's success has been attributed by analysts to the popularity of their family-friendly exclusive titles, such as Animal Crossing. Meanwhile, these figures are projected to be further boosted by Super Mario 3D World, which is to be released later this month.

According to Nintendo, demand for the machines was 35.8% up on the same period the previous year, with a total of 24.1 million units sold over the last nine months of 2020.

Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa said that the company had sufficient components to continue producing the devices—despite wider industry shortages—and is now expected to sell 26.5 million of the consoles over the financial year as a whole. That represents 10% more than its previous guidance.

No Plans for a Successor

Furukawa revealed that there are no plans for a successor to be launched in the near future. This, however, has done nothing to dampen speculation that the company will unveil a “pro” version of the Switch before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, analysts have lauded Nintendo’s commitment to doing what it knows how to do best.

Piers Harding-Rolls from Ampere Analysis told the BBC: “The sales success of the Switch justifies Nintendo’s decision to stick with its product strategy of combining unique and innovative dedicated games hardware with compelling first-party games

“Sometimes this approach misses the mark—see the Wii U for example—but when it works it tends to result in very successful products.”