The year of dominance for the Nintendo Switch just keeps on going. Following their big Game of the Year win for Breath of the Wild, the company and console have something else to celebrate: as of today, the Switch has surpassed 10 million consoles sold worldwide.
While this is a major milestone for any game console, it’s quite a meaningful victory for Nintendo. Just one year ago, WiiU sales were abysmal, the value of stock in the company was falling fast, and the company was reporting $49 million dollar loss. Now, Nintendo is not only the darling of the industry once more, but reporting strong financials as well—the 10 million in consoles sales is the most for the company since 2011.
If there’s one thing we can point to that’s likely responsible for the unmitigated success of the Switch, it’s the software lineup. Midway through holiday season, both Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe have surpassed 4 million copies sold, with Splatoon 2 closing in at 3.61 million and Super Mario Odyssey fast-approaching after it hit 2 million in its first month. To put this in perspective, only six games in the WiiU’s lifetime ever surpassed 4 million copies sold, with the majority—such as Nintendoland and several of the Mario platformers—being bundled with the system itself. And with titles like a proper Metroid or Super Smash Bros. still in the pipeline, the potential for software sales on the Switch has not even come close to being fully fulfilled.
On the backs of a clever piece of hardware and some of the most inspired titles in the Nintendo lineage, the company is riding high on their success. Before November even rolled around, they believed the Switch would outsell the WiiU’s lifetime total within year of release. That system sold 13.6 million in just over five years. It seems like a fair bet that the Switch is going to put that figure to absolute shame.