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The Nintendo Switch outsold the Wii, is now company's best-selling home console

It is also the fastest-selling console ever, reaching the 100 million mark before any other console in history.
By
February 3, 2022
PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch 12
TL;DR
  • Nintendo Switch sales just hit 103.54 million units sold.
  • That is more than the Nintendo Wii, making the Switch the company’s best-selling home console.
  • It has a way to go to overtake the Nintendo DS and become the company’s best-selling hardware ever.

The Nintendo Wii U was a dud. It wasn’t received warmly from critics or consumers and failed to even come close to the sales of its predecessor, the Nintendo Wii. When the Wii U’s follow-up landed — the Nintendo Switch — we were all skeptical Nintendo could create another huge hit.

Well, we were all wrong. As of December 31, 2021, Nintendo Switch sales hit 103.54 million units sold. That’s more than the Nintendo Wii, which hit a sales peak of 101.63 million units during its lifetime. This makes the Switch the company’s best-selling home console of all time. It also makes it the fastest-selling console across all brands, reaching 100 million units sold in under five years. For all the history Nintendo has, the Switch took things to a whole new level.

See also: The best free Nintendo Switch games

For the record, the Wii U sold a mere 13.56 million units over its lifespan. Wow.

Of course, these Nintendo Switch sales will need to keep on truckin’ to overtake Nintendo’s most popular handhelds to become the company’s best-selling hardware. The original Game Boy sold 118.69 million units and the Nintendo DS sold a stunning 154.02 million. That Game Boy record seems attainable, but the Nintendo DS one could be asking a lot.

Never underestimate Nintendo, though. Its most recent version of the Switch — the Nintendo Switch OLED —barely qualified as an update to the console yet still sold like gangbusters. If Nintendo can keep that momentum going, it is totally feasible for it to beat its own record.