The Nintendo Switch’s Sales Finally Surpass the DS in Japan
While the 20-year-old Nintendo DS has long reigned as one of the best-selling video game systems in Japan, it seems that Nintendo’s latest hybrid handheld system has finally dethroned the champ – reports indicate that the Switch has now shipped a total of 32,903,701 units, outselling the DS’ 32,864,129 count in its home country.
Additionally, the Switch is on track to setting a new worldwide record, with around 141.32 million units sold internationally as of March this year. This is still behind the DS’ worldwide sales of 154 million units, and the PS2’s official count of 155 million, although some dispute this to be actually closer to 160 million.
That’s not a bad feat for a console that’s already seven years old on the market and still selling. Of course, it wouldn’t be surprising to see occasional slowdowns in terms of sales as the system is a bit old at this point, with the Nintendo Switch 2 is reportedly closing in on the horizon.
A while back, Nintendo Japan shared a message from company president Shuntaro Furukawa regarding an upcoming announcement about the Switch sequel, although he clarifies that it won’t be later within the fiscal year. The full message reads:
This is Furukawa, President of Nintendo. We will make an announcement about the successor to Nintendo Switch within this fiscal year. It will have been over nine years since we announced the existence of Nintendo Switch back in March 2015. We will be holding a Nintendo Direct this June regarding the Nintendo Switch software lineup for the latter half of 2024, but please be aware that there will be no mention of the Nintendo Switch successor during that presentation.
Source: Nintendo Everything