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The Nintendo Switch has sold 2m units in the US, the platform holder has announced, after the console claimed its third straight month at No.1 in the US hardware charts. According to the latest NPD data, the Switch was the top-selling console once again this September, marking its third consecutive month at No.1 and the fifth time in seven months it’s claimed the monthly top spot since launch.
Add those 2m units to Japan’s 1.8m units (going by Famitsu’s hardware data), and the console is almost certain to have crossed the 4m threshold, if not 5m, once you take into account other territories – an impressive feat considering we haven’t even hit Christmas yet.
If that wasn’t good enough news for the platform holder, Nintendo claimed two thirds of September’s total hardware sales overall when Switch sales are combined with Nintendo 3DS and Classic Mini SNES sales. In the software charts, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle made it to No.7, Metroid Samus Returns debuted at No.8, while Breath of the Wild continues to hang fast at No.10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, meanwhile, claimed No.11. Even more impressive is the fact that Nintendo never includes digital download sales in NPD’s charts, so all these positions represent physical sales only.
October is only going to get better for the platform holder, too, as October 27th marks the arrival of the long-awaited Super Mario Odyssey and its accompanying Switch hardware bundle. There’s also Fire Emblem Warriors, which comes out tomorrow (October 20th), followed by Bethesda’s Doom and Skyrim on November 10th and 17th, and Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for the 3DS on November 17th as well before it rounds out the year with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on December 1st.
It paints a strong end to the year for Nintendo, but the key question is whether it will be able to maintain that momentum in 2018. Nintendo’s been releasing at least one major first party title almost every month since launch for the Switch, including showings from its two main franchises, Zelda and Mario.
Of course, not every year can star such blockbuster talent, and right now it’s debatable whether the announced upcoming Kirby and Yoshi games have quite the same pulling power. Metroid Prime 4 and the Switch Pokemon RPG are also unlikely to launch next year, so it will be up to the likes of Animal Crossing, Pikmin and potentially the inevitable next Mario Kart and Donkey Kong Country titles to pick up the slack.
