As we’ve covered on the Nintendo Entertainment Podcast over the last several episodes, the Nintendo Switch is likely heading into its “final run” within 2024. Rumors are running rampant about when its successor might be unveiled and what games will help “send it out” until the next console arrives. But as we reported not too long ago and covered in the podcast, the latest Switch sales numbers put the system at 139 million units sold! That puts it within arms reach of the best-selling gaming devices ever! But if you have ever wondered what the console has done every year…we can help give you that answer.
Gaming insider and analyst Paul Gale was able to put together a year-by-year sales chart for the Nintendo Switch, and it’s rather impressive. He put together the seven years of the Switch’s life and revealed how much they sold each year, and the numbers tell quite the tale:
Nintendo Switch sales per calendar year:
2017 = 14.87m
2018 = 17.41m
2019 = 20.2m
2020 = 27.39m
2021 = 23.67m
2022 = 19.01m
2023 = 16.81m*******
Total from March 3rd, 2017 – December 31st, 2023:
139.36m
*******
Nintendo Switch isn't dropping to zero per year anytime soon.
— Paul Gale (@PaulGaleNetwork) February 10, 2024
There’s plenty to break down here, but I want to highlight a few points. First, just in 2017 alone, the Switch sold more than the Wii U did in its LIFETIME. Then, the sales of the Switch exploded in 2020 and 2021, likely due to the pandemic and the need for a console with plenty of games, which the Nintendo platform had in spades.
Finally, even if the Switch has its “lowest-selling year” in 2024, that still would put it close to the levels of the Nintendo DS and PS2, and it’ll keep selling even when the Switch successor comes out. So if this trend of sales holds, the Switch may become the best-selling video game platform ever.
