Nintendo’s annual financial report has been released to the public, along with the latest sales figures for the company’s hardware and software. The Switch family led the way as the company’s flagship console, selling 21.03 million units last year, putting the total at 55.77 million.
The main Switch console actually experienced a slight drop in purchases of about 200,000 units from the year before. Thanks to its smaller handheld cousin, the Switch Lite, the Switch family sold a total of 21.03 million consoles in the 2020 fiscal year, good for a 24.0 percent year-on-year increase. The Switch Lite arrived in September 2019 as a handheld-only option and has since sold 6.19 million units.
This year’s success came in spite of the production shortages of the Nintendo Switch. The COVID-19 pandemic affected production lines in China.
In the report, Nintendo said that, while shipments of the console and accessories “faced delays in some regions from February through March,” the insufficiency had a “limited impact” on the fiscal year’s results.
In terms of lifetime sales, the Switch is now on track to become the second-bestselling home console from Nintendo. Having surpassed the SNES, the Switch is just 6 million units away from overtaking the NES.
| Console | Hardware Sales (Million) |
| Wii | 101.63 |
| NES | 61.91 |
| Nintendo Switch | 55.77 |
| SNES | 49.10 |
Table information via Nintendo
It’s still a far cry away from the insanely popular Wii that sold more than 100 million units and which struck a golden balance between innovative controls and cross-generational appeal.
It’s also far from hitting the mark of Nintendo’s handheld consoles. Four generations of handhelds–the Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, DS, and 3DS–have all sold more than units than the Switch, with the Game Boy and DS breaking past the 100 million marks.
