What just happened? The Nintendo Switch has broken two more records. Not only has it surpassed 100 million sales faster than any other console in history, but it’s also become Nintendo’s best-selling home console ever. The news comes in the middle of a chip crisis that has impacted the production of many electronic products, including Sony’s PlayStation 5.
Nintendo’s latest financial results state that the new Switch OLED got off to a “good start” following its launch last October, selling 10.67 million units in Q3, which Nintendo classes as October to December. That brings the hybrid machine’s total sales to 103.54 million since it launched in 2017.
It means the Switch has now surpassed the Wii’s lifetime sales of 101.63 million to become Nintendo’s best-selling home console of all time. It’s also reached 100 million units sold faster than any other console in history—four years, eleven months—beating the record held by the PS4, which took five years and seven months to hit that figure.
The news comes a day after Sony cut its sales forecast for the PlayStation 5 due to the ongoing chip shortage, impacting the console’s production. In December, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa warned that the Switch could start seeing similar availability issues this year.
Despite the good news, Switch sales were down 8% YoY. And after Nintendo lowered its Switch sales forecast in November from 25.5 million to 24 million due to the semiconductor shortage, it has once again revised that figure down, by another million to 23 million.
In the area of software, Pokémon remasters Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were the Switch’s best sellers over the last nine months with 13.97 million total units sold. It was followed by Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (7.96 million), Mario Party Superstars (5.43 million), and Animal Crossing: New Horizons (4.99 million).