Switch Shipments Reach 52.48 Million Units as of December 31, Pokemon Sword and Shield Sells Over 16 Million - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 March 2020 / 5,197 Views

Nintendo has released its latest hardware and software figures for the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS through December 31, 2019. Shipments figures for the Nintendo Switch reached 52.48 million units, while the Nintendo 3DS hit 75.71 million units shipped. As for lifetime software 310.64 million Switch games have been shipped and 382.22 million 3DS games.

For the quarter Nintendo shipped 10.82 million Switch units and 64.64 million Switch games, as well as 0.25 million 3DS units and 1.12 million 3DS games.

Nintendo forecasts it will ship 19.5 million Switch units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, which is up from the previous forecast of 18 million.

Here are the top 10 best-selling Switch first-party titles:

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 22.96 million
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 17.68 million
Super Mario Odyssey – 16.59 million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 16.34 million
Pokemon Sword / Pokemon Shield – 16.06 million
Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! – 11.76 million
Splatoon 2 – 9.82 million
Super Mario Party – 9.12 million
New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 5.85 million
Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 5.37 million

Nintendo also shared the sales figures of more games:

Super Mario Maker 2 - 5.04 million
The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – 4.19 million
Fire Emblem: Three Houses – 2.58 million
Ring Fit Adventure – 2.17 million
Astral Chain – 1.03 million
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order – 1.02 million

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

24 Comments

Aidman (on 30 January 2020)

The Legend of Zelda Breath of the wild NS DOUBLED The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time which was the best selling game in the Franchise. I am so happy for this game with the combined sales of the Wii U version it ( 16.34 + 1.67) = 18 millions for a Zelda game in almost three years Totally Huge. My Wish now is Botw will reach 20 millions life time sales.

garretslarrity Aidman (on 30 January 2020)

Oh it will. The Switch version alone sold 1.8M units just in Q4, more than 2.5 years after its release! 20M total is a given!

Cerebralbore101 Aidman (on 30 January 2020)

It will for sure. The game hasn't even had a large price cut, or GotY edition yet.

Zenos (on 30 January 2020)

Glad that Astral Chain broke a million, but it deserves much more.

SanAndreasX Zenos (on 30 January 2020)

I was worried that it didn't even break a million TBH. Hopefully more is to come.

garretslarrity (on 30 January 2020)

Two biggest surprises for me:

Splatoon 2 didn't hit 10M. I thought this would be a given since it was over 9M by the end of the last quarter. But the sales for that really have not kept up, unlike the other titles here.
Sword & Shield sell 16.06M. That's...... that's fucking incredible. For context, both X&Y and Sun & Moon have sold in the 16M range lieftime. S&S did that in less than 2 months. And keep in mind that the 3DS still has nearly a 50% larger install base than the Switch. With these figures, Sword & Shield will not only fly past Diamond and Pearl (and may have already) but challenge Gold & Silver. In fact, now that we know there won't be a third version to cannibalize sales, Sword & Shield have a shot- and I can't believe I'm saying this- at outselling Red, Blue, & Green.

garretslarrity garretslarrity (on 30 January 2020)

Goddamnit these comments need to support paragraphs.

xMetroid garretslarrity (on 30 January 2020)

I don't think it will come close to R/B/G tho, it will surpass G/S for sure. Even if there is no 3rd version or a sequel coming soon, pokemon games are extremely front loaded. They never had expansion pass but i can't see it selling another 16 millions ltd when there will probably be a new game in 2021

javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

Tbh I'm a pretty disappointed how Mario Maker 2 wasn't as big as I thought it would be, it still sold 5 million units on the Switch which is still good but I expected Mario Maker to explode and sell close to 10 million at this point. I'm surprised Mario Party and Luigi's Mansion Outsold it through the quarter. It's a shame since I thought Mario Maker is an amazing huge game especially after selling really well on the dead console the Wii U

Jranation javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

NSMBUDX probably stopped it sales from increasing. Both of them should have released in different years.

siebensus4 javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

I completely agree with Mario Maker 2. Its sales have obviously been cannibalized by NSMBUD. To be honest, the medals in Maker 2 are a joke compared to the 100 Mario challenge on Wii U. I have almost no motivation to play other levels.

javi741 javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

I know NSMBUDX released the same year, but I thought Mario Maker 2 being the far better game and value would entice people to purchase it far more than a lazy NSMBU. I'm just baffled how underwhelming Mario Maker 2 did

aris4me (on 30 January 2020)

Well, this is insane!

INCITATUSBR (on 30 January 2020)

I can see only exclusive games at the top 10.

SanAndreasX (on 30 January 2020)

The Switch and its games are sales beasts. Especially lovin' those well-deserved numbers for Breath of the Wild.

javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

But holy shit Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is on fire. Despite being essentially a port of a 2014 game priced at 60$ with no price cuts after nearly 3 years on the Switch, it STILL managed to sell 23 Million Units in less than 3 years and 4 million for the Holiday quarter😲 That's insane and shows how powerful Nintendo franchises ESPECIALLY Mario kart is. I expected Smash to maybe surpass or be close with Mario Kart in sales but Mario Kart 8 DOUBLED Smash Ultimate's sales for the Quarter. This game legitimately has the chance to surpass MK Wii in sales

Cerebralbore101 javi741 (on 30 January 2020)

MK8D is a GotY edition of MK8 though. So a lot of people are willing to pick it up since it includes several DLC packs.

siebensus4 javi741 (on 01 February 2020)

I think MK8D was bundled during the holiday season. That surely has helped to sell more copies.

StreaK (on 30 January 2020)

55 million more to catch the PS4. That's like doing what it has done up to this point all over again.

Jranation StreaK (on 30 January 2020)

Do you think Switch can beat PS4?

StreaK StreaK (on 30 January 2020)

@Jranation: All I can say is it's definitely not impossible but to me unlikely. That's not to say it won't sell huge, though. I'm just more curious to see how consistent the sales will be further down the line and if it'll manage to even come close to the PS4.

Nu-13 (on 30 January 2020)

Shouldn't it be december 31 in the tittle?

scottslater Nu-13 (on 30 January 2020)

I said those estimates we were getting were low, this is even higher than I thought it would be. What a quarter and at the 3 year mark this console is only gaining momentum, watch out.