TOPSHOT – The Super Mario character is pictured on a Nintendo display before the launch of the company’s Switch 2 console, an electronics store, on June 2, 2025 in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.
Richard A. Brooks | Afp | Getty Images
The switch is turned Nintendonearly nine years after the release of the best-selling console of all time.
The importance of the device to the Japanese gaming giant cannot be overstated. Released by Nintendo in March 2017 ahead of the Switch release Failed with the Wii Ushare price has decreased in previous years.
Nintendo has been around since the launch of the Switch increased its value more than three times his brand became more popular than ever.
“The company was in shambles after the previous console flopped, so the Switch represents a big change in Nintendo’s long history,” Kantan Games CEO Serkan Toto told CNBC. “It couldn’t have come at a better time.”
The gaming giant said Tuesday that the Switch’s lifetime sales will reach 155.37 million units, surpassing the record of 154.02 million units held by the company’s most popular console, the Nintendo DS. In third place is the popular Gameboy with 118.69 million units sold.
Replace the timing key
Until the switch arrived sad wii u Nintendo hoped to be as successful as the innovative Wii console. Released in 2006, the Wii became popular for its handheld motion controllers that allowed users to mimic sports such as tennis.
Nintendo has sold over 100 million units of the Wii. But the WiiU, released in 2012, only sold 13.56 million units. Some critics blame confusing marketing on the console. Others say he faces stiff competition SonyPlayStation 4.
Nintendo Wii U Touch Screen Controller “Super Mario Bros.” game
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But the Wii U offered some hints as to what Nintendo might be trying to do next. The company followed a strategy of separate portable consoles and TVs.
The In 2017, the Switch blurs the lines. It was a console where players could play on the big screen, but users could attach controllers to a portable screen and continue gaming on the go.
“The bottom line is that with the Switch form factor — an innovative hybrid console that offers a handheld and TV console experience — Nintendo decided to combine its historic dual-product strategy into one product line,” Piers Harding-Rolls, head of game research at Ampere Analysis, told CNBC.
“This has had the effect of merging its handheld and television console audiences, thus laying the foundation for a new level of revenue from a single product.”
A visitor plays Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Nintendo Switch during the launch of the new console on January 13, 2017.
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Time was of the essence. Nintendo is a staple of young casual gamers hit by popular mobile gamesand the Switch has joined Nintendo to counter this.
“Nintendo has revived its console business after the popularity of mobile games ate the Switch 3DS and Wii U for lunch,” said James McWhirter, senior analyst at Omdia.
What made the Switch so popular?
When the Switch was released in 2017, it was a new concept that combined a traditional console and a portable device.
Nintendo’s success with the Switch stems from its ability to use in-house console design and first-party games based on its most popular franchises and characters.
“Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” was the most popular title with over 70 million copies sold. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and a many games Super Mario and Friends made up the rest of the best-selling list based on Zelda and Pokemon.
The Switch has also seen a surge in interest during the Covid-19 pandemic as people stay at home and look to video games for entertainment. Just when it seemed like interest might be waning, 2023’s Super Mario movie helped breathe new life into the console.
Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voiced Mario and Luigi in Universal and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, respectively.
Universal
Nintendo has expanded its reach non-console intellectual property to toys, theme parks, and movies, it brought viewers back to the Switch.
“The Switch generation has also been defined by Nintendo’s efforts to expand the reach of its globally recognized IP through theme parks, movies, museums and collaborations,” said McWhirter.
Nintendo is hoping to copy that playbook with the Switch 2, which launched last year. So far, the console has sold more than 14 million units, and Nintendo has announced this the fastest selling device of all time.