Nintendo Switch Has Now Outsold the 3DS in Japan

The Nintendo Switch’s incredible success has been clear to see for as long as it’s been around, and over five years on from its launch, it’s very much maintaining that momentum. As of March 31, the console has sold over 107 million units worldwide– and unsurprisingly, a huge chunk of that has come from its sales in Japan.

After the latest weekly Japanese sales charts, the Nintendo Switch has now outsold the lifetime sales of the Nintendo 3DS in Japan (via @GameDataLibrary on Twitter). A graph comparing the sales of the two systems shows an impressive trajectory for the Switch.

Incidentally, this also makes the Switch the third-highest selling gaming system in Japan to date, with over 24.7 million units sold in the region so far. It’s behind the Nintendo DS, which has sold over 32.8 million units, and the Game Boy, which sits at over 32.4 million units. Whether or not it will overtake either of those two remains to be seen, but it looks like it has a pretty good shot.

Of course, with the persisting supply shortages thanks to the global semiconductor shortage, there’s a good chance that sales will slow down at least by some degree going forward. Nintendo recently said there’s “no end in sight” to the shortage, so it should be interesting to see how the Switch copes.

Comparing Switch sales with other platforms that have sold over 10m. pic.twitter.com/xyWQ51tBAg

— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) May 20, 2022