The Switch is doing crazy well in Japan, as anyone who keeps up with our weekly Media Create updates should know at this point; but perhaps even more striking than its hardware success is its software success. According to Game Data Library, total lifetime retail software sales for the Nintendo Switch are now already more than total lifetime retail software sales for the Wii U in the country.
This really should not come as a shock to anyone. Not only does the Switch have a freakishly high attach rate for software, but most games on the Switch have had extremely long legs. Weekly software charts in Japan, much like in the rest of the world, are interspersed with multiple Nintendo Switch games that have been there since launch, and not left- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, Kirby: Star Allies, and Mario Tennis Aces, for example.
Given the upcoming launches of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, we will probably see the Switch smash the Wii U’s software sales total on a worldwide basis very soon, too.
This is only retail, including digital total software sales of Wii U in Japan are at 15m, Switch was at 16m by the end of June, should be around 18m-19m by now.
Launch periods complicate things but at least by March Switch was outdoing NDS and 3DS software launches aligned.
— Game Data Library (@GameDataLibrary) August 30, 2018
