Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the United States for the 23rd month in a row, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. This helped push total hardware sales up despite the drooping performance of what are now the last-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony. But Switch isn’t just performing well compared to the outgoing PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’s on a near-record sales pace.
“Year-to-date dollar sales of Nintendo Switch hardware are the second highest of any platform in U.S. history,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “[It’s] trailing only the 2008 year-to-date dollar sales of Nintendo Wii.”
As Nintendo announced last night, Switch had a record-breaking October.
“Nintendo Switch set a new U.S. October hardware dollar sales record, besting the previous high set by Nintendo Wii in October 2008,” said Piscatella. “Nintendo Switch has been the best-selling hardware platform in the U.S. for 23 consecutive months, also a record high.”
Switch’s performance comes as Nintendo releases games like Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. But this also comes due to pent-up demand. Consumers had a difficult time finding Switch throughout the spring and summer, and so people are picking up the system whenever they see it in stock.
This is driving growth for hardware in the U.S.
“October 2020 video game hardware spending gained 41% when compared to a year ago, to $259 million,” said Piscatella. “Growth in sales of Nintendo Switch offset declines on other console platforms. Year-to-date hardware spending totaled $2.5 billlion, 23% higher than a year ago.”
That growth should shoot even higher in November now that PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are shipping to fans.
