It’s amazing at times to think about just how different a console generation can go for someone. For Nintendo, they’ve seen both the highs and the lows of making both amazing, and underwhelming consoles. Two generations ago, they made the Wii, which became a phenomenon all its own, and was one of the fastest-selling consoles ever made. Its “sequel” was the Wii U, which became the worst-selling console in Nintendo history. And now, we have the Nintendo Switch, which in less than a year is doing better than just about anyone expected.
To be fair, many expected the Switch to do better than the Wii U, but not this quickly. Nintendo revealed recently that the Switch had sold 4.8 million units in just the US alone, which made it the fastest-selling home console in their history. And in Japan, the Nintendo Switch has passed two major milestones. First, they’ve now outpaced what the PS2 did in its first year, and now, it’s fully surpassed what the Wii U sold there in its lifetime.
Japan: according to Famitsu sales data, Switch has officially outsold Wii U lifetime sales this week (NSW: 3.407.158, WIIU: 3.301.555)
Switch needed ~10 months to achieve what the Wii U did in like 6 yearshttps://t.co/peIvS0gWur pic.twitter.com/9DSKb2SfmG
— Nibel (@Nibellion) January 6, 2018
As you can read in the text, it took 10 months for the Switch to sell more than the Wii U did in six years. That just goes to show you how much the country loves the Switch. This is also impressive because of the fact that Japan is seen as “weening away” from console in light of the mobile gaming boom that’s been going on in the country.
But, since the Switch itself is a mobile console in every sense of the word, that could be the reason for its massive success there. How 2018 will go for the system though is anyone’s guess.
