Switch Becomes the Third Best-Selling Game System of All Time

Even since its launch in March of 2017, Nintendo’s dual handheld/console system the Switch has been an international smash.

More than making up for the less-than-stellar sales of the Wii U, the Switch skyrocketed up the charts, now reaching the third position in the list of best-selling gaming systems.

Now only behind the DS platforms and the PS2, the Switch could become the eventual winner, if it plays its cards right.

Combining to Create a Winner

Arguably the biggest contributor to the Switch seeing such popularity is how it approached Nintendo’s now immense series of first and second-party titles.

Mario, Zelda, Smash, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing have always been big sellers, but they were traditionally split across Nintendo’s handheld and console systems.

“Nintendo Switch – Home Screen” (CC BY 2.0) by brettchalupa

The Switch, by combining handheld and static play, managed to offer both sets of opportunities on one system.

This meant players only needed one Nintendo system to get everything they wanted, and they could play at home or on the go.

Both Sony nor Microsoft can’t offer this opportunity, but there is a precedent in other forms of interactive entertainment.

Most notably, the idea of offering titles over both handheld and desktop play is illustrated by the success of online casinos, and online casino news portals such as Casinotopsonline.com/th.

This industry was built originally for desktops, but as smartphones became popular, its offerings were expanded into the handheld market.

This didn’t just include the websites like Tusk Casino and Wazamba Casino either, it extended to all facets of the experience.

From table games to slots and live titles, and bonuses like deposit matches and free spins, casinos opened up the floor, and in doing so achieved enormous and ongoing success.

The Next Step

As of February 2023, Nintendo’s Switch has managed to sell 122 million units. While still a distance away from the DS (154 million) and the PS2 (155 million), the Switch continues to close the gap.

Aided by hardware refreshes and the coming arrival of guaranteed big sellers like the new Legend of Zelda, it’s entirely possible that the Switch could become the eventual winner.

The question that remains is what effect the eventual and inevitable Switch follow-up system would have.

Nintendo has already set a precedent for hardware upgrades with New 3DS and given how reliant the company is on a newly centralized game library, we expect the Switch 2 to be a fully backward-compatible system.

Like the New 3DS, the new system will likely be able to play Switch 1 games with better performance and potentially new features, which is important because of how much some games struggle on the system.

Of course, if the new system launches too soon, it could prevent the original Switch from reaching higher on the best-selling podium, at least if it’s counted as an entirely separate system.

Then, with Nintendo vastly outpacing Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox series in this generation, holding another record probably isn’t that important.

As for how well the next system could perform, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the number one best-selling spot again see a new challenger.

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