The Nintendo Switch has come insanely close to hitting a major sales milestone, as the system has almost outsold the NES as of the end of June.
Following the slow demise of the Nintendo Wii U, hopes were high for the Nintendo Switch on its launch, with many seeing it as Nintendo's last attempt at trying to win the console market. The Switch has shattered expectations, especially during the summer of COVID-19, where demand for the system has been sky high.
Nintendo has released its latest sales figures on its website and the Switch has seen a huge boost in numbers. As of June 30, the Switch has sold 61.44 million units around the world. This puts it within spitting distance of the sales numbers of the Nintendo Entertainment System, which has sold 61.91 million units to date.
The Switch has currently outsold some of Nintendo's biggest consoles from the past, including the Nintendo 64 and the SNES. It's likely that the Switch has already beaten the NES (as the figures are a few weeks old now), which means that the next big milestone is the Nintendo 3DS, with its 75.87 million units sold.
The Switch has seen incredible sales over the past few months, but things are going to get a lot tougher this holiday season, as it will face competition from the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. It's possible that Nintendo will make the best of the next-generation hype with a price cut and a few first-party titles ready in time for Christmas. The Switch has proven that it has what it takes to defeat the Xbox One, but it still has a ways to go before it breaks the top ten best-selling consoles of all time. It has to break at least 83 million to top the PSP in order to enter the top ten, where it will meet insane competition from the four PlayStations, the Xbox 360, the Game Boy Advance, the Wii, the Game Boy, and the DS. The Switch has proven to be a huge success for Nintendo, but it still has a ways to go before it becomes one of the best-selling systems of all time.
Source: Nintendo