Nintendo has a pretty stellar track record in the gaming industry. Though not all of the company's consoles have been equal hits, the best far outway the disappointment. For every Virtual Boy, Nintendo has released an NES, SNES, and Game Boy, and for every Wii U, Nintendo has dropped the Wii, DS, and 3DS. And now, five years after its initial release, the Nintendo Switch has proven itself to be one of Nintendo's best console offerings of all time.
First released in 2017, the Nintendo Switch had a bit of a mixed reception on launch. While the console itself was fairly groundbreaking, offering a hybrid portable/home console experience like no other had at the time, early adopters didn't have much to play on their shiny new devices. But five years later, the general reception around the Switch has changed dramatically, and its quickly become one of the most successful consoles of all time. Right now, the Nintendo Switch shows absolutely no signs of stopping, and with five years under its belt already, it's likely that the Switch might just outlive its competition.
The Nintendo Switch Shows No Signs of Stopping
Over the last five years, the Nintendo Switch has sold more units than most consoles see in their entire lifetime. Within just its first week, Nintendo announced that the Switch was the company's fastest-selling console, rivaling the PlayStation 4's opening-week sales. Within its first month, the Switch had sold 2.74 million units worldwide, and by the time of its first birthday, the Switch had reached over 16 million units. As of the latest reports, the Nintendo Switch has hit 107.65 million sales across the globe, but that number is only continuing to grow every week.
Already, the Nintendo Switch has overtaken the lifetime sales of the Wii U, the GameCube, the N64, the NES, the 3DS, the Game Boy Advance, and even the Wii, one of the most successful consoles of all time. While sales don't necessarily conflate to the popularity of a console, that's certainly the case with the Nintendo Switch, with it easily outpacing its Xbox One and PS4 competitors. The Switch's sales have also continued to grow despite the release of the Xbox Series X/S and PS5. It's very rare for a console to stay relevant past its own generation, let alone continue to reach new audiences and earn more sales.
As long as the Switch is still popular and selling units, it's unlikely that Nintendo will pull the plug on it. This year has seen a number of excellent first-party titles released for the Switch, and its slate is far from finished, with games like Splatoon 3 and Bayonetta 3 still to come this year. Similarly, Nintendo also has plenty of first-party AAA games heading to the Switch in 2023, ensuring that the console will live until it's at least 7-years-old.
On average, the lifespan of a modern video game console is around five years. While both Sony and Microsoft fit this trend, it's especially true for Nintendo, with the SNES, N64, Game Cube, and Wii all lasting just over five years before the next console iteration would release. That being said, there have been outliers over the years, with the Xbox 360 lasting for a whopping eight years, and the PlayStation 3 and NES lasting seven. It's more than possible that the Nintendo Switch will end up becoming one of these outliers. With a jam-packed slate on the horizon, sales refusing to let up, and console revisions and models allowing for even more sales over time, the Nintendo Switch could very well outlive its competition.