In under a year the Nintendo Switch has outsold the Wii U; that’s 14 million units since March of 2017. The Wii U sold 13.5 in its entire life span.
Nintendo’s financials are looking pretty sprightly right now. The Switch is now the fastest-selling home console in US history. In the last quarter of 2017, the hybrid console sold 7.23 million units; it reached 14.86 by the end of December.
Subsequently, Nintendo has altered its financial forecast for the year ending in March: it now has a 33.3% higher operating profit (160 billion yen), and 1.02 trillion yen in total revenue.
It’s safe to say that the console has been a welcome surprise, even for Nintendo. At an earnings briefing, company president Tatsumi Kimishima said, “Switch sales during the holiday season were stronger than expected, the United States and Europe.”
The success of the hybrid has hinged, in its first year, on first party hits like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2, a cavalcade of indie games, and a series of big re-releases like Skyrim and Doom.
Not really that surprising honestly. As it turns out, if you make actual good games for a system people will buy it! The only game I can think of that you could even really consider a system seller for the Wii U was Mario Maker, and that was released super late into its lifespan. The Switch is coming with SM Odyssey and BotW right from the beginning.