ShareThis
The success of Switch has been a major story for the video game industry. In just under a year, Switch is now outselling Wii U, a console released back in 2012. Through December, Nintendo shipped 14.6 million Switch units, propelling it past Wii U’s lifetime number of 13.56 million units.
Unsurprisingly, that success has extended to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The Switch launch title has now become the second biggest Zelda game of all-time, behind Twilight Princess, itself a launch title for the Wii. Nintendo has shipped approximately 6.7 million copies of Breath of the Wild worldwide on Switch, and 1.08 million on Wii U, totaling 7.78 million globally. To date, Nintendo has shipped an impressive 8.85 million copies of Twilight Princess. Presumably this number includes the GameCube, Wii and 2016 Wii U remake numbers combined. Considering demand for Switch is still quite high, it’s easy to assume that Zelda will also continue to sell, making Twilight Princess’ place at the top seem tenuous, at best.
After the disastrous sales of Nintendo’s Wii U console, industry pundits returned to a habit of questioning Nintendo’s ability to sell video game systems. Switch completely upended that narrative, leaving developers and publishers scrambling to make titles available on the platform. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo can keep up the pace but, for fans, it’s just nice to see the company back on top.
Source: Nintendo
