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1470700cookie-checkNintendo Switch Lifetime Sales Have Already Surpassed The Nintendo 64
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2019/04

Nintendo Switch Lifetime Sales Have Already Surpassed The Nintendo 64

The Nintendo Switch continues its trek up the company sales ladder, with the latest figures showing the home/portable console hybrid surpassing the popular Nintendo 64 in lifetime sales.

While you could easily argue that the Switch’s games library in 2018 was inferior to a stellar launch-year lineup, that didn’t seem to slow the console’s sales down even a little bit. According to the latest stats from VGChartz, Nintendo sold 217,096 Switch consoles through the first week of April and, with those most recent figures, that puts the console’s lifetime sales at 33.15 million units.

For those using past Nintendo benchmarks as a comparison, that moves the Switch in front of the lifetime sales of the Nintendo 64, which reportedly moved 32.93 million units during its full retail run. What makes this extra impressive is the fact that the Switch is barely two years old at this point. The Nintendo 64 launched back in 1996, with production finally dropping off in 2002 when the GameCube was introduced. That means it took the Switch two years to top sales spread across six years for the N64. Considering that impressive momentum, it’s only a matter of time before the hybrid console tops Nintendo’s next sales benchmark, the Super Nintendo.

In case you’re wondering how the numbers break down for video game sales on the Switch, the usual suspects from Nintendo lead the pack. Mario Kart 8 is the top-selling game with 15.02 million units sold, followed by Super Mario Odyssey at 13.76 million units sold. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate only launched in December and it already holds the third top spot at 12.08 million units sold. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild comes in at 11.68 million, with Pokemon: Let’s Go rounding out the top five at 10 million units.

Later this year we’re expecting to get a new Animal Crossing game, alongside a remake of Link’s Awakening, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and a new mainline Pokemon game. There are also strong rumors of a smaller version of the console gearing up for launch, as well as a beefed up Switch to follow. In other words, it doesn’t sound like the console’s sales are going to be slowing down anytime soon.

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