Nintendo’s underrated Switch is well on its way to becoming the most successful gaming console ever

Nintendo’s Switch gaming console just won’t die. It came onto the market in March 2017 and in my review at the time I concluded: “Nintendo does a lot of things right with the Switch that they messed up a few years ago with the failed Wii U. The customers decide whether that is enough.”

Apparently it is enough, because at the end of September the Switch had been sold more than 132 million times. About 25 million units are still missing to replace Sony’s legendary PlayStation 2 as the best-selling console. The PS2 has sold just over 155 million units, Nintendo’s DS stands at 154 million.

Although the nearly seven-year-old Switch is past its peak and sales have been declining since 2021, it could break the old console record. There are still at least two important Christmas quarters ahead and sales have been stable recently. Nearly 7 million Switches were sold in the past six months alone, a slight increase compared to the same period last year. Nintendo expects that a total of 140 million consoles will have been sold by the end of March 2024.

This year’s holiday season, Switch sales will be driven by the new game “Super Mario Bros. Wonder.” It’s premium fun and is selling faster than any Mario game.

Six and a half years ago I described the Switch as the “most innovative gaming console I’ve ever tested,” but I couldn’t have imagined that the “mix of Game Boy, tablet and Wii” would still be so popular with the end of 2023.

There is still no end in sight

For the current fiscal year, which ends at the end of March 2024, Nintendo plans another 15 million Switch sales. Strong numbers for a console that is almost seven years old. Nintendo was therefore able to keep the price virtually stable all these years. The Japanese have room for price reductions to give the Switch a second life in the future.

Nintendo says it wants to provide the Switch with new games at least until 2025. By then, the console could reach the 150 million milestone.

Other software developers will likely keep games on the market for even longer, as the console is in tens of millions of homes and game sales show little sign of slowing down so far. Nintendo just increased its forecast for game sales in the current fiscal year by 5 million to 185 million.

Why the Switch won’t die

One reason for the continued success is that quite a few households buy a second Switch after their first purchase, because the games appeal to all age groups.

Another reason is the constant stream of new games. Nintendo’s eShop is overcrowded – including tons of junk, but also countless gaming gems. Game developers large and small want to release their games for the successful Switch, which was not always the case with previous consoles.

There’s no quick end in sight for the Switch, especially as Nintendo continues to work hard on the Switch. Although the sequel is looming, potentially high-profile games like “Princess Peach: Showtime!”, “Super Mario RPG,” “Mario vs. Donkey Kong”, “Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD” and “Paper Mario” do. to be released in the coming months. This underlines Nintendo’s intention to keep the Switch alive for a long time.

Nintendo’s gamble is paying off

This flood of ‘new’ games – many of which are remakes of old games – is possible because Nintendo has been able to concentrate all its game development resources on one device since the Switch. Previously, the Japanese had to provide a home and a portable console with new software at the same time. This double burden was eliminated with the Switch, which is known to serve as a home and portable console in one. Nintendo can therefore provide the Switch with new games much more reliably than was the case with previous generations of consoles. In other words, Nintendo’s risk of betting everything on a hybrid console is paying off.

Switch2? So!

A new Nintendo console is expected in 2024, which could be called Switch 2 and has been intensively discussed in the trade media for months. The long-awaited “Metroid Prime 4” will likely arrive at the launch of the new console.

It is very likely that Nintendo will continue to use the current Switch in parallel with the new model and will try to win new customers by lowering prices. In many countries, especially outside North America, Europe and Japan, consoles only sell well when the price drops noticeably after the introduction of the new model.

Even with the new console, if it actually arrives in 2024, the Switch could live on for a long time in some regions. Nintendo will therefore continue to offer the eShop to purchase games digitally for many years to come. By comparison, the failed predecessor to the Wii U console was released in 2012 and the eShop remained open until March 2023, with online services not being deactivated until 2024. It is therefore quite conceivable that the Switch will remain online until 2029 or longer.

With Nintendo you never know where you stand. But if the Japanese continue production, the Switch could quietly move into the realm of the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 in the coming years. Who would have believed that in early 2017?