TOPSHOT – Super Mario characters are photographed on a Nintendo display at a home electronics retailer in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture on June 2, 2025, ahead of the release of the company’s game console “Switch 2.”
Richard A. Brooks | AFP | Getty Images
The switch looks like this nintendoThe best-selling game console of all time, almost nine years after its release.
The importance of this device to the Japanese gaming giant cannot be underestimated. Prior to the Switch’s launch in March 2017, Nintendo was recovering from its failure with the Wii U, and its stock had been in decline for several years.
Since the Switch’s launch, Nintendo’s brand reputation has more than tripled, making it perhaps more popular than ever.
Kantan Games CEO Serkan Toto told CNBC: “The company has been in turmoil since the debacle of its previous console, but the Switch marks a major turning point in Nintendo’s long history.” “The timing couldn’t have been better.”
The gaming giant announced on Tuesday that lifetime sales of the Switch reached 155.37 million units, surpassing the record of 154.02 million units for the Nintendo DS, the company’s most popular gaming console. In third place was the iconic Game Boy, with 118.69 million units sold.
switch timing key
Before the Switch came the ill-fated Wii U, which Nintendo had hoped would be as successful as its revolutionary Wii console. Launched in 2006, the Wii was known for its handheld motion controller that allowed users to mimic sports such as tennis.
Nintendo sold over 100 million Wii units. However, the Wii U, released in 2012, sold only 13.56 million units. Some critics blame confusing marketing through gaming consoles. Some say it faces stiff competition from sonyPlayStation 4.
Nintendo Wii U touchscreen controller game displaying “Super Mario Bros.”
Akio Kon | Bloomberg | Getty Images
However, the Wii U gave us a hint as to what Nintendo might try next. The company had adopted a strategy of separating portable game consoles and game consoles that connected to a TV.
2017’s Switch blurred the lines. This was a console that allowed gamers to play on a big screen, but users could also connect a controller to a portable screen to continue gaming on the go.
Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at Ampere Analysis, told CNBC: “The basic takeaway is that by taking advantage of the Switch form factor – an innovative hybrid console that offers both a handheld and video game console experience – Nintendo has made the decision to combine its historic two-product strategy into a single product line.”
“This has had the effect of uniting mobile and TV console audiences, laying the foundation for a new level of success from a single product.”
Timing was critical. Nintendo’s young, casual gamer base had been lured by an onslaught of popular mobile games, and the Switch gave Nintendo a chance to compete.
“The Switch reinvigorated Nintendo’s console business after mobile gaming took off like the 3DS and Wii U’s lunch,” said James McWhirter, senior analyst at Omdia.
What was the driving force behind the Switch’s popularity?
When the Switch launched in 2017, it was a new concept that combined a traditional console with a handheld.
Nintendo’s success with the Switch stems from its console design and its ability to leverage first-party games based on its most popular series and characters.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the most popular title, selling over 70 million copies. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and a number of games based on Super Mario and Friends, Zelda and Pokémon were the rest of the bestsellers list.
Interest in the Switch also increased during the coronavirus pandemic, when people were stuck at home and turning to video games for entertainment. And just when interest seemed to be waning, the 2023 Super Mario movie helped breathe new life into the console.
Chris Pratt and Charlie Day provide the voices of Mario and Luigi, respectively, in Universal and Illumination’s “Super Mario Bros. Movie.”
universal
Nintendo has expanded how it spreads its intellectual property beyond consoles to toys, theme parks, and movies, bringing audiences back to the Switch.
“The Switch generation was also defined by Nintendo’s extensive efforts to expand the reach of its globally recognized IP through theme parks, movies, museums and collaborations,” McWhirter said.
Nintendo hopes to replicate that strategy with the Switch 2, which was released last year. More than 14 million units of the console have been sold to date, and Nintendo announced that it was the fastest-selling device in history.
