Nintendo has a brilliant third quarter, with Switch breaking past the Wii’s lifetime sales

Nintendo’s third quarter of its financial year is always the big one — with a combined Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Eve contributing to a massive influx of sales from the family-friendly giant. This year was no different.

The big news is that the Switch, after selling 10.67m units over the holiday period, has officially surpassed the Wii in hardware unit sales, bringing the life-to-date total to a massive 103.54 million units sold – a far cry above the Wii’s already-gargantuan 101.63m units. Of the 10.67m consoles sold in the last quarter, 1.34m of those were Lite consoles, 5.34m were base consoles, and a respectable 3.99m units were of the newly-introduced OLED model, showing that there is very much an appetite for a slightly more expensive, slightly prettier console in the market.

In terms of games that released in the quarter, Metroid Dread has had an incredibly respectable (for the series) 2.74m units sold in its first three-ish months on sale, and is well on its way to becoming the best-selling game in the series, with only the original Metroid Prime (2.84m sold) left to topple. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl — remakes of the beloved DS classics — have sold 13.97m units, another well on its way to surpassing its original versions, which sold 17.67m units over its lifetime. We’ll be keeping an eye on the tail to that one.

On the topic of Pokemon, Sword and Shield have become the second-best-selling games in the series, coming in at 23.9m units sold to date, just eking past Gold and Silver’s 23m. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, of course, continues to laugh in the face of any wanting a new Mario Kart game, with a lifetime sales so far of 43.35m units sold — an astonishing 41% attach rate that all but ensures a new Mario Kart is very much not around the corner.

On a final topic before we sign off to start digging back into the numbers, Nintendo has revised its financial year predictions for Switch hardware units down to 23m, down from 24m previously predicted last quarter. We’ll be sure to update this article with any other juicy details we find in the release.

Switch Hardware Updates

Nintendo Switch total: 103.54m (Up from 92.87m)
– Nintendo Switch: 81.68m (Up from 76.34m)
– Nintendo Switch Lite: 17.87m (Up from 16.53m)
– Nintendo Switch OLED Model: 3.99m

Switch Software Million Sellers Updates

Last Quarter Additions

• Warioware: Get It Together! – 1.24m
• Metroid Dread – 2.74m
• Mario Party Superstars – 5.43m
• Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl – 13.97m
• Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain – 1.28m

FY2021 Titles 

• New Pokémon Snap – 2.36m (Up from 2.19m last qtr)
  • This figure only counts outside of Japan, as sales for Japan are counted under The Pokémon Company.
• Miitopia – 1.63m (Up from 1.37m last qtr)
• Mario Golf: Super Rush – 2.26m (Up from 1.94m last qtr)
• Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury – 8.85m (Up from 7.45m last qtr)
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD – 3.85m (Up from 3.60m last qtr)

Evergreen Million Sellers

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 43.35m (up from 38.74m last qtr)
• Animal Crossing: New Horizons – 37.62m (Up from 34.85m last qtr)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 27.40m (up from 25.71m last qtr)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 25.80m (up from 24.13m last qtr)
• Pokemon Sword and Shield – 23.90m (up from 22.64m last qtr)
• Super Mario Odyssey – 23.02m (up from 21.95m last qtr)
• Super Mario Party – 17.39m (up from 16.48m last qtr)
• Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee – 14.33m (up from 13.83m last qtr)
• Ring Fit Adventure – 13.53m (up from 12.21m last qtr)
• Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 11.04m
• Game Builder Garage – 1.01m
• New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 12.72m