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TechNintendo

Nintendo Switch Will Only Need One Year to Outsell Wii U

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
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By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 30, 2017, 9:49 AM ET

Nintendo’s latest console is making its last one look awfully bad in comparison.

In an earnings release on Monday, Nintendo revealed that it will sell 14 million Wii U units by the end of its fiscal year in March. Those sales, coupled with the nearly 3 million units the company sold in March 2017 after its Switch hit store shelves, will bring total Switch sales in just over a year to 17 million units.

In comparison, Nintendo sold just 13.6 million Wii U units in the more than four years that console was available between 2012 and 2017.

Nintendo (NTDOY) released the Switch in March, offering games the opportunity to play both at home and on the go. The Switch can be plugged into a dock for playing games on the television, or removed from the dock to play while mobile with its touchscreen. The console quickly took off after its release and sold through available units in no time. Demand still remains heavy and Nintendo has said that it’s working to get enough supply to customers. Heading into the holiday season, however, Switch might still be hard to find on store shelves.

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The Switch’s success stands in stark contrast to the Wii U, which suffered from the outset. The console failed to attract players and in turn, developers ignored the console to save resources for more popular consoles, like those from Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT). Unable to overcome those challenges, Nintendo’s hardware division started to slip, and investors called on the company to make a big move. It responded with Switch.

With another hit on its hands, Nintendo’s financial performance is soaring. The company reported 374 billion yen ($3.3 billion) in sales in the six-month period ended September 30, a 173.4% jump over the same period in 2016. Nintendo also nabbed a 51 billion yen ($450 million) profit during the period, which was up 34.5% year-over-year.

Looking ahead, Nintendo anticipates even more success, and forecasts fiscal year sales will jump 96.3%.

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By Don Reisinger
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