Nintendo has released its year-end report for fiscal year 2023, and as of March 2023, the Switch family of systems has sold more than 3 million units since the last quarter, making its lifetime unit sales total a low. 125.62 million.
In February, the total was 122.55, surpassing sales milestones set by both the Game Boy (118.69 units) and Sony’s PlayStation 4 (117.2). However, the Nintendo DS still leads the charts as the best-selling video game console, with a whopping 154.02 million units sold. And Sony’s PS2 tops the table with 155 million.
The Switch OLED was the most popular SKU last financial year, although overall hardware sales fell 22.1% year-on-year, with sales slowing during the 2022 holiday season compared to the previous year. While the numbers are relatively good considering the point in the Switch’s life cycle entering its seventh year, it’s clear that things are slowing down for the console.
(In case you’re wondering, the recently released Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Switch OLED isn’t factored into these lifetime Switch figures, so the true figure at the time of writing will now be higher than reported.)
Here’s a breakdown by SKU followed by their percentage changes year-over-year:
Nintendo Switch – 6.14 million units (-54.7.1%)
Nintendo Switchtch – OLED model – 9.22 million units (+58.8%)
Nintendo Switch Lite – 2.62 million units (-29.2%)
And here’s how things compare to Nintendo’s previous console sales:
| Console | Clearance sale |
|---|---|
| DS | 154.02 million |
| Switch | 125.62 million |
| Game Boy | 118.69 million |
| Wii | 101.63 million |
| Game Boy Advance | 81.51 million |
| 3 ds | 75.94 million |
| Family computer / NES | 61.91 million |
| Super family computer / SNES | 49.10 million |
| N64 | 32.93 million |
| GameCube | 21.74 million |
| Wii U | 13.56 million |
Can the Switch catch the PS2 to become the best-selling console in history? Well, with games like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and its themed Switch OLED SKU sure to boost sales, and people upgrading their aging Switches with shiny new versions, there’s certainly life in the system yet, so we wouldn’t be surprised .
However, the year-on-year decline suggests it will be a struggle without big discounts. Nintendo will surely be looking at the 2023 holidays as an opportunity — perhaps the last big one? — for the Switch to drive sales, so discounted bundles would seem likely.
