The Nintendo Switch Has Just Made History…Again

The Nintendo Switch might have been  late to the party, but that didn’t stop it from coming out on top in terms of sales, with Nintendo now announcing that it has become the fastest-selling console of this generation in the U.S.

So how much did it manage to sell exactly? Well, according to Nintendo, the Switch managed to sell more than 8.7 million units between Mar. 2017 and Nov. 2018 — quite the feat for a console that hasn’t even been out for two years yet.

“We are thrilled to see such a strong reaction from consumers in the second holiday season for Nintendo Switch,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, of the achievement. “We’re looking forward to delivering more excitement and smiles to our fans in the coming year and beyond.”

Of course, while NoA has all right to be thrilled, this achievement shouldn’t come as surprise — the Switch has been selling like hotcakes since its arrival. As you might recall, it was at the very beginning of this year when Nintendo announced the console had sold 4.8 million units within 10 months.

But credit should still be given when credit is due, especially when the achievement came during a year when the Switch didn’t have as many high-profile releases when compared to the previous one. In particular, three of the console’s biggest sellers from last year —  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Odyssey — have reached new milestones in 2018, selling over four million, five million and 4.7 million units, respectively. And that’s on top of other strong-selling titles actually released this year, such as Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! (two million units in total), along with Super Mario Party (1.4 million).

And it doesn’t look like this momentum will stop any time soon either, with the announcement noting that Super Smash Brothers Ultimate — which has become not only the fastest-selling Nintendo Switch game of all time, but also the fastest-selling game in the Super Smash Bros. series — wasn’t entirely factored in yet.