Nintendo Sold Nearly 30 Million Switch Consoles in 2020

The Switch is getting closer to beating the Wii's all-time sales record.

The Switch is getting closer to beating the Wii’s all-time sales record.

Speaking as someone who lost several months of 2020 to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s not especially surprising to learn that 2020 turned an incredible profit for Nintendo, its Nintendo Switch video game console, and the games associated with it. According to financial reports for the 2020 fiscal year, which ended as of this past March, Nintendo sold a grand total of 28.83 million Switch units in 2020, bolstered by the need for at-home entertainment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this new milestone, Nintendo has now sold a total of 84.59 million Switch units since the console’s release back in 2017. By contrast, Nintendo’s long-standing record holder of console sales is the Nintendo Wii with 101.63 million units sold during its lifespan. Game sales are also, unsurprisingly, up along with console sales. Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the crown jewel of Nintendo’s 2020 sales, selling 32.63 million physical and digital copies worldwide. That’s only a stone’s throw from the 35.39 million copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that have been sold since the Switch’s initial launch.

But while these sales are undoubtedly good news for Nintendo, they have been offering words of caution to their investors not to get their hopes up for a repeat performance. As the threat of the pandemic decreases, Nintendo expects a 9% drop in revenue, and 20% drop in net profit for the 2021 fiscal year, though the company should still be in good standing overall.