It’s been no secret that theNintendo Switchremains an insanely popular item even four years after its launch. Itabsolutely dominated console sales in Japan, with the then newly released PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles barely posing a threat against it, and new sales data has revealed that it performed just as strongly in the United Kingdom.
According to charts providers GfK and GSD, whereas the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S sold over 450,00 and 310,000 units respectively, theSwitchcrushed them both, pushing 1.5 million units. That’s nearly a million more than what it shipped in 2019. In terms of revenue, it generated £367.4 million. By comparison, the PS5 made £191 million and the Xbox consoles made £118 million.
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This is particularly impressive considering the best-selling games chart contains very few Nintendo exclusives. In fact, there are only two:Animal Crossing: New Horizons(which released that year and was a massive success) andMario Kart 8 Deluxe, which released in 2017. Both games placed 6th and 12th respectively in the chart, managing to outperform other incredibly popular games likeMinecraftand more recent titles likeSpider-Man: Miles Morales. However, the chart only has data forAnimal CrossingandMario Kart’s physical sales. Had their digital sales been included, they could very well have placed slightly higher.
They had stiff competition, though. The top of the charts were dominated by the latest entries of much popular franchises, likeFIFA 21andCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which respectively placed 1st and 2nd. Funnily enough, their predecessors from 2019 weren’t far behind, withFIFA 20andCall of Duty: Modern Warfarecoming in 4th and 5th.
To be fair to the newer consoles, they were at somewhat of a disadvantage launching in 2020. The unexpected coronavirus pandemic greatly hampered and upended a lot of industries, including the games industry. Console manufacturing took a major hit, which no doubt played a part in the limited stock available at launch. Even now, many people still struggle to get their hands on either of the new consoles, which hasn’t been helped bya continuing scalper problem. It’s entirely possible that, under more normal circumstances, the new consoles would have performed much better.
With the Switch’s success not slowing down any time soon, some may argue that Nintendo has no reason to release an upgraded version of the hardware despite all the rumors. However, some inside sources are insistent that a supposedNintendo Switch Prois coming. The latest claims say that it will be announced this year and feature a larger, 7 inch, Samsung OLED display.
