It’s been inevitable for a while now, and probably happened some months ago, but it’s finally official: the Nintendo Switch has become Nintendo’s best-selling system ever, and the second-best-selling console of all time.
In its latest financial results, Nintendo revealed that the Switch had reached 155.37 million units sold, beating the Nintendo DS’ lifetime total of 154.02 million. In that time, an incredible 1.5 billion Switch games have been sold.
The biggest Switch games are some of the biggest of all time, period. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold over 70 million copies, while Animal Crossing: New Horizons is closing in on 50 million. New Horizons‘ outsized role in the pandemic gaming boom was a major contributor to the Switch’s massive sales. But the real reason for the Switch’s phenomenal success was Nintendo’s far-sighted anticipation that the time was right, and the technology mature enough, to combine the handheld and home console gaming markets in a single device.
So far, it appears that the company has been able to repeat the trick with the Switch 2. The new console kept up its blistering sales pace, selling 7 million units in the third quarter of 2025, bringing its total to 17.37 million — 10 million units ahead of the Switch in the same timeframe. It actually sold slightly fewer during its first holiday period than the Switch did, but this could be due to Nintendo’s determination to ensure ample stock supply since launch, meaning there was less pent-up demand. Mario Kart World has sold 14 million copies, an 80% attach rate with the console.
Seven months on from launch, the Switch 2 remains, by some distance, the fastest-selling console ever, trouncing the records of the Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. “We believe we have been able to get off to a good start,” Nintendo modestly stated in its notes to investors. Amusingly, the company hasn’t changed its forecast that the Switch 2 would sell 19 million units in its first fiscal year, even though it now seems certain to blow past that number.
The Switch 2’s relatively high price in a tough economic environment, and the threat of a further price increase due to chip shortages, may yet slow the Switch 2 down. But there’s no sign of this happening yet.
As for the Switch, it remains second in the all-time rankings to the PlayStation 2, which Sony claims sold over 160 million units. It will be difficult for the Switch to sell a further 5 million units in the shadow of its wildly popular successor. Difficult — but perhaps not impossible? We’ll find out.
