NPD records sales figures of video game hardware and software. This year, the Nintendo Switch is pushing some of the highest numbers of all time. Last year was the first time a dedicated console had sold more than 6 million units since the Xbox 360 in 2011.
The Switch, earlier this year, broke the Xbox 360’s 22 month winning streak. Winning this October, the Switch has now been in first place for 25 months, over two years. That could end with the launch of PS4 and PS5. We’ll see, personally, I think the Switch will smoosh them given its insane momentum.
The Switch got lucky with a surprise in releasing one of the biggest killer apps of all time with Animal Crossing New Horizons - basically Animal Crossing with Minecraft style landscaping and crafting.
What is a killer app? It’s an application that drives lots of hardware sales. There’s not really a threshold, it’s more of a “this software is driving hardware sales up to extraordinary levels” type thing. The first game to be a killer app was Super Mario Bros. The game that “saved” the industry from so-called video game crash of 1983 - IMO, a myth based on the fact that Atari began to suck and there was low demand for new hardware - and it wasn’t really a crash so much as a generational shift, where people were still consuming games, just not buying dedicated hardware for them. Some might argue that Pac-Man was a killer app because it sold well, but it wasn’t driving hardware, it was just the top selling game on the computers people bought to do their spreadsheets and programming on.
Anyway, Breath of the Wild continues to sell well on the Switch, that was the console’s original killer app. Animal Crossing gave it a gigantic boost this year. The Switch was selling incredibly well last year, too, largely thanks to the thousands of games releasing on it - which MIGHT be a record for any console. This included ports of a lot of fan favourite Steam games, as well as some key third party software like Witcher 3, Civilization 6, and Cities Skylines; Rockstar released LA Noire, but no GTA5, I guess Rockstar North are still bitter about their messy breakup with Nintendo during the N64 era when they were still a second party running under the name DMA... I honestly don’t blame them after reading into the whole situation.
ANYWAY! Enough rambling, and to the point.
Here’s a chart showing all consoles that sold over 6 million units in a year since 2001.
Some highlights
September (over 500K)
1. Wii 2008 - 687,000
2. Switch 2020 - 670,000
3. PS2 2002 - 535,000
4. GBA 2004 - 527,000
5. DS 2009 - 524,000
6. Wii 2007 - 501,000
October (over 500K)
1. Wii 2008 - 807,000
2. Switch 2020 - 736,000
3. DS 2008 - 537,000
4. PS2 2002 - 535,000
5. Wii 2007 - 519,000
6. Wii 2009 - 507,000
All Time best selling months (over 2 million)
1. Wii December 2009 - 3,810,000
2. DS December 2009 - 3,310,000
3. DS December 2008 - 3,040,000
4. PS2 December 2002 - 2,733,000
5. DS December 2010 - 2,500,000
6. DS December 2007 - 2,470,000
7. Wii December 2010 - 2,360,000
8. GBA December 2003 - 2,316,000
9. GBA December 2002 - 2,215,000
10. Wii December 2008 - 2,150,000
11. GBA December 2004 - 2,060,000
12. Wii November 2008 - 2,040,000
13. Switch December 2019 - 2,036,000
Years in Total
1. DS 2009 - 11,185,000
2. Wii 2008 - 10,175,000
3. DS 2008 - 9,951,000
4. Wii 2009 - 9,594,000
5. PS2 2002 - 8,574,000
Can Switch break the top 5? Maybe knock PS2 out to make the top 5 solidly Nintendo?
Q&A
Answer - yes, I’m procrastinating.
The Switch, earlier this year, broke the Xbox 360’s 22 month winning streak. Winning this October, the Switch has now been in first place for 25 months, over two years. That could end with the launch of PS4 and PS5. We’ll see, personally, I think the Switch will smoosh them given its insane momentum.
The Switch got lucky with a surprise in releasing one of the biggest killer apps of all time with Animal Crossing New Horizons - basically Animal Crossing with Minecraft style landscaping and crafting.
What is a killer app? It’s an application that drives lots of hardware sales. There’s not really a threshold, it’s more of a “this software is driving hardware sales up to extraordinary levels” type thing. The first game to be a killer app was Super Mario Bros. The game that “saved” the industry from so-called video game crash of 1983 - IMO, a myth based on the fact that Atari began to suck and there was low demand for new hardware - and it wasn’t really a crash so much as a generational shift, where people were still consuming games, just not buying dedicated hardware for them. Some might argue that Pac-Man was a killer app because it sold well, but it wasn’t driving hardware, it was just the top selling game on the computers people bought to do their spreadsheets and programming on.
Anyway, Breath of the Wild continues to sell well on the Switch, that was the console’s original killer app. Animal Crossing gave it a gigantic boost this year. The Switch was selling incredibly well last year, too, largely thanks to the thousands of games releasing on it - which MIGHT be a record for any console. This included ports of a lot of fan favourite Steam games, as well as some key third party software like Witcher 3, Civilization 6, and Cities Skylines; Rockstar released LA Noire, but no GTA5, I guess Rockstar North are still bitter about their messy breakup with Nintendo during the N64 era when they were still a second party running under the name DMA... I honestly don’t blame them after reading into the whole situation.
ANYWAY! Enough rambling, and to the point.
Here’s a chart showing all consoles that sold over 6 million units in a year since 2001.
Some highlights
September (over 500K)
1. Wii 2008 - 687,000
2. Switch 2020 - 670,000
3. PS2 2002 - 535,000
4. GBA 2004 - 527,000
5. DS 2009 - 524,000
6. Wii 2007 - 501,000
October (over 500K)
1. Wii 2008 - 807,000
2. Switch 2020 - 736,000
3. DS 2008 - 537,000
4. PS2 2002 - 535,000
5. Wii 2007 - 519,000
6. Wii 2009 - 507,000
All Time best selling months (over 2 million)
1. Wii December 2009 - 3,810,000
2. DS December 2009 - 3,310,000
3. DS December 2008 - 3,040,000
4. PS2 December 2002 - 2,733,000
5. DS December 2010 - 2,500,000
6. DS December 2007 - 2,470,000
7. Wii December 2010 - 2,360,000
8. GBA December 2003 - 2,316,000
9. GBA December 2002 - 2,215,000
10. Wii December 2008 - 2,150,000
11. GBA December 2004 - 2,060,000
12. Wii November 2008 - 2,040,000
13. Switch December 2019 - 2,036,000
Years in Total
1. DS 2009 - 11,185,000
2. Wii 2008 - 10,175,000
3. DS 2008 - 9,951,000
4. Wii 2009 - 9,594,000
5. PS2 2002 - 8,574,000
Can Switch break the top 5? Maybe knock PS2 out to make the top 5 solidly Nintendo?
Q&A
Answer - yes, I’m procrastinating.
