Prior to the Nintendo Switch's launch, the Big N's latest console was one of the most highly anticipated pieces of hardware to come out of the video game publisher and developer's workshop in ages, with the analysis firm DFC Intelligence recently predicting the popularity of the system will lead to sales reaching 40 million in four years. Now, it looks as if the company is well on its way to hitting that figure, as the Japanese firm has announced that the console managed to sell 14.86 million units during 2017.

In addition to the news of the Nintendo Switch's latest sales feat, it looks as if the system's titles are also selling quite well, particularly when it comes to first-party releases. Super Mario Odyssey is currently the top-selling game on the console with 9.07 million copies sold, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has reached 7.33 million, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has hit 6.70 million, and Splatoon 2 has achieved 4.91 million.

Considering the fact that the Nintendo Switch is only less than a year old, these sales numbers are quite a significant accomplishment for the Big N, especially when one acknowledges that the figures indicate it has already beaten the Wii U’s lifetime sales of 13.56 million units. Of course, the next feat for the Switch to pull off will be to outsell the original Wii, which sold a remarkable 101.63 million units over the course of its lifespan.

Bearing all of this in mind, this is a major success for the Nintendo Switch and its first-party games, and it doesn’t seem as if the system's sales momentum will slow down any time soon. With a slew of exciting exclusives coming in 2018, sales for the Big N's hybrid mobile-home console will likely continue to ramp up throughout the rest of the year.

The Nintendo Switch is available now.