The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events are all done, although some retailers have sales going through the end of the week. Video games were a major focal point for customers this past week, and some companies raked in a good amount of money. However, none of them were able to accomplish what Nintendo did this past week. With the Nintendo Switch, as well as the 3DS and the NES/SNES Classic, Nintendo exceeded all sales expectations by making over $250 million, which is a 45% increase from the previous year.
On top of that, the Nintendo Switch itself was the top selling console over the 5 day period, increasing its hardware sales by 115% over the previous year, which is an insane achievement. This officially makes the Nintendo Switch the best-selling console in the U.S. during Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, beating out long time reigning champion, the Nintendo Wii. In addition, sales of Nintendo’s first-party games topped $1 million units, eclipsing the previous years by 78%. This was helped greatly by newer games, such as Super Mario Party and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu/Evee.
As for other Nintendo hardware, the 3Ds also contributed greatly, as the total installed base for 3DS family of systems is now at 22 million. The software also helped, specifically Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. The NES and SNES Classic lifetime sales also went over 2 million thanks to the sales events. Without a doubt, this is the most successful week of the year so far for Nintendo.
Of course, there is still another milestone that the company is expecting to cross with the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The game has already broken pre-sale records, making it the most pre-sold Nintendo Switch game, as well as the most pre-sold Super Smash game of all time. With the all of the special bundles and sales events for the system, as well as the impending release of Smash in just a little over a week, it’s no wonder that Nintendo made so much during that small time frame.
The Nintendo Wii currently holds the record for most consoles sold in December, when it sold over 3 million units in 2009. Don’t be surprised if Nintendo outdoes themselves again, because we can’t begin to imagine how much more they’ll make once December 7 rolls around. When things are all said and done, the Nintendo Switch might be the new king of the hill in the console market.