It wasn’t really unexpected, but the summit to be reached remained very important. After months of chasing the coveted record, the Nintendo Switch has officially become the best-selling console in the history of the Japanese manufacturer. Nintendo has updated its figures, and the verdict is final. With more than 155.37 million units sold worldwide, the small original hybrid console finally overtakes the Nintendo DS, which until then sat at the top with 154.02 million sales.
The outcome seemed almost written in advance since the last financial report of November 2025, where barely 10,000 consoles still separated the two machines. However, beating a monument like the DS, which marked an entire generation between the years 2000 and 2010, was not trivial. The Switch had to establish itself over a much more competitive period, facing an industry saturated with platforms, online services and new ways of consuming video games.
Switch vs Switch 2
What makes the performance even more striking is the current market environment. The Switch continues to be among the best-selling consoles in recent months, even though the Switch 2 has already been available for several months. A fairly rare situation in the industry, where new generations tend to cause the sales of their predecessors to drop sharply. Here, Nintendo succeeds in bringing two machines together, each finding its audience. The original Switch is now more accessible in terms of Price, and the Switch 2 attracts players looking for new technical features and exclusive games.
The longevity of the Switch is largely based on its hybrid concept, still as attractive almost ten years after its launch. Being able to instantly switch from living room to portable mode allowed the console to reach an extremely wide audience. Added to this is a catalog which has had a string of critical and commercial successes, with in-house licenses capable of sustaining sales over time, well beyond the usual launch window.
Despite this crowning achievement at Nintendo, the Switch does not yet hold the title of best-selling console of all time. This record remains in the hands of the PlayStation 2, which still exceeds the mark of 160 million units. At this stage, there is no guarantee that the Switch will manage to close this gap, especially with the gradual rise of the Switch 2, which could naturally slow down the sales of its predecessor.
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