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Nintendo has sold 10 million Switch consoles in nine months

Nintendo has sold 10 million Switch consoles in nine months

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It could beat first-year sales of the Wii, Nintendo’s best-selling home console to date

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A pair of hands holding a Nintendo Switch console with neon red and blue Joy-Con controllers, playing Super Mario Odyssey in handheld mode.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The Switch continues to rack up strong sales, with Nintendo announcing today that the console has sold more than 10 million units globally in nine months. This is up from sales of 7.63 million at the end of September.

The $300 Switch was released this spring, and Nintendo predicts that it will sell some 14 million units by the end of the fiscal year in March 2018. This estimate was raised from 10 million units in October, and would put the Switch on a path to beat the lifetime sales of the company’s previous console — the Wii U — in less than 12 months. (The Wii U sold 13.6 million units over five years.)

The Switch still has a long way to go, though, if it wants to challenge Nintendo’s best-selling home console, the Wii; which sold more than 100 million units over its lifetime. Speaking to Variety, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime said it was possible the Switch would beat first-year sales of the Wii, but only if it continues to sell well through the Holiday season.

Fils-Aime put the console’s success down to its hybrid form factor, which allows it to be played at home and the move, and a trio of strong games: Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. These three titles have been purchased by more than 50 percent of Switch owners. “Typically if you have a title where one out of five owners have bought a game, that’s strong,” said Fils-Aime. “That helps drive sell-through of the console.”

It remains to be seen if the Switch can keep up momentum into 2018. Upcoming titles for the year include Nintendo’s own Kirby Star Allies and Bayonetta 2, as well as third-party offerings including Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Mega Man 11, and Shovel Knight: King of Cards. None of these, though, quite have the star-power of a new Mario or Zelda title.