Nintendo has been incredibly successful recently when it comes to sales, almost ridiculously successful. With the Switch being the fastest selling console of the generation alongside the recently released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate being the fastest selling title on the console, its no wonder that Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has so much faith in the near future of the Switch. He recently spoke to Japanese publication Sankei about the recent triumphs of Nintendo with the Switch and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Furukawa states specifically that “The people who’ve played Smash before are coming back for this one; that accumulation of players contributed to the initial push [in sales].” (Translation via Nintendo Everything). This makes sense considering that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is currently sitting at over 5 million copies sold worldwide. To put this into perspective, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U sold 5.35 million copies over its lifetime and Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS sold 9.35 million copies over its lifetime. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launched not even month ago and reached over 5 million copies sold in 3 days. The Nintendo Switch has already completely eclipsed the Wii U in console sales and is on track to catching up to the 3DS relatively soon. In Japan, the Switch has even outsold both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 4 Slim combined.
The fiscal year ends in March 2019, giving Nintendo less than 3 months to achieve their goal of 20 million Switch consoles sold. Furukawa believes the goal is realistic and attainable, thanks to the great success of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and sales from the holiday season. He states that Nintendo needs to continue to stay active in pushing sales as to “not get caught up in that initial momentum.” Switch console sales were over 8.7 million units by the end of November 2018, meaning they have likely boomed in recent months thanks to the two factors Furukawa mentioned. Luckily, the end of the fiscal year is not too far off and we’ll get to see if Nintendo reaches their goal then.