It’s no secret that the Wii U dramatically underperformed. After its predecessor, the Wii, sold in excess of 100 million units, the Wii U followed up with a paltry 14m.
With the Nintendo Switch, the company’s fortunes appear to be changing. Nintendo expects the new console to outsell the Wii U’s lifetime sales after just one year of having been on sale.
Consequently the company’s operating profits have seen a massive spike, increasing from $710m in the first quarter of 2016 to $1.6 billion in the same period of this year.
Games and hardware
As well as its hardware, the company has also seen a number of software successes. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has managed to sell 2.76m copies on Nintendo Switch, more copies than there are consoles, as well as selling over 1m on Wii U.
Pokémon Sun and Moon was also a massive success for the company, after having become Nintendo’s fastest-selling game in North America in its first two weeks.
Naturally the real test of the console will be whether it can live up to these big sales expectations, although thankfully it’s got a new Mario game, Super Mario Odyssey, to bolster sales in the latter half of this year.
- Interested in the new console? Check out our full review of the Nintendo Switch.
- Looking to buy one? Then check out our Nintendo Switch deals page.
