Sponsored By

Report: The Nintendo Switch has now outsold the Wii in Japan

Nintendo's latest system looks to have eclipsed the sales of the company's previous popular home console in Japan, at least according to data gathered by Game Data Library.

Alissa McAloon, Publisher

March 25, 2020

1 Min Read
Game Developer logo in a gray background | Game Developer

Nintendo’s latest system looks to have eclipsed the sales of the Wii in Japan, at least according to data gathered by Game Data Library.

According to sales numbers shared on Twitter, the Nintendo Switch has, as of this week, sold 12,801,240 units in Japan, beating out the 12,739,002 on record for lifetime Japanese Wii sales.

But, on top of that, Game Data Library points out that the Switch has so far sold considerably quicker than the Wii, and surpassed the older system’s lifetime Japanese sales during only the 161st week of its lifetime while it took the Wii twice that to breach 12.7 million sales. 

This makes it the third quickest selling system in Japan when compared against other systems in their third year, just below the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo 3DS.

Those curious about the data can find more information—and graphs!—in Game Data Library’s Twitter thread.  

This makes for the second record Nintendo has unofficially broken this week, following in the footsteps of estimates from earlier today that put Animal Crossing: New Horizons as the system’s top launch with 1,880,626 physical copies sold release week. 

About the Author

Alissa McAloon

Publisher, GameDeveloper.com

As the Publisher of Game Developer, Alissa McAloon brings a decade of experience in the video game industry and media. When not working in the world of B2B game journalism, Alissa enjoys spending her time in the worlds of immersive sandbox games or dabbling in the occasional TTRPG.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like