To end 2020 with a bang and kick off the new year in style, the Nintendo Switch sells over half-a-million units in Japan in just two weeks.

The Nintendo Switch ended 2020 with a bang and brought in the new year with some fireworks in Japan; bringing in over half a million units in two weeks. The dominance of the Nintendo Switch continues; not only in Japan but also worldwide. Likewise, the success of Nintendo’s hybrid console seems to stretch beyond just December; as the console has been a hit since the moment it launched.

According to Famitsu, and a tweet from @Stealth40k, the Nintendo Switch had a rather impressive final few weeks of 2020. Not only did Nintendo do extremely well, but when compared to the competition especially, it absolutely blew them away.

From December 21, 2020, to January 3, 2021, the Nintendo Switch sold 590,000 units in Japan according to Famitsu. Some numbers have around 17 million Nintendo Switches being sold in Japan so far since the Switch launched in 2017. Nintendo dominated the sales charts all year long in Japan, but selling over half a million units sold in just a two-week span is rather absurd. All of the top 10 selling physical games during this two-week span were also Nintendo Switch games, with the number one title being Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

What is interesting to note is that over that same two-week period the PS4 and PS5 sold only 30,000 and 23,000 units respectively. Of course, a huge part of the problem for the latter is the fact that the PS5 is mostly out of stock and very hard to find. Still, with Sony being a huge competitor in Japan to Nintendo, it is very intriguing to see The Big N have such a bigger end to 2020 over PlayStation. Stealth followed up his tweet by posting Microsoft’s Japan numbers, and the number is quite low, as it seems all Xbox branded consoles only sold 350 units during that same period.

Nintendo Switch Reportedly Outsells Every Major Console Combined in 2020 in the UK

The 2020 dominance of the Nintendo Switch continues to prove itself. While some predicted that the Switch would outsell the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S over the holidays, perhaps not many would predict that it would outsell everything combined, but that seems to be the case; at least in the UK.

Christopher Dring is the head of GamesIndustry.biz. In a recent tweet, he reported that the Nintendo Switch posted monster numbers in the UK in 2020; a milestone that is difficult to imagine.

To sum it up, if every single PS5, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S sold in the UK were combined, they would basically match the same number of Nintendo Switch consoles sold in 2020. That unbelievable number of Switch consoles could be attributed to many factors.

One could claim it is because of the pandemic, but Nintendo had to deal with COVID-19, just like Microsoft and Sony. Another thought is that the shortage of Xbox Series X/S and PS5 consoles allowed the Nintendo Switch to outsell the new consoles over the holidays. The Switch also had games in 2020 that dropped at a perfect time, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which dominated UK sales charts. Whatever the case may be, the Nintendo Switch outperforming all other major consoles combined is remarkable to say the very least.

One could have possibly predicted the UK console sales success based on the UK video game sales success. As far as Amazon sales, Nintendo dominated; both in the US and in the UK. Games like the aforementioned Animal Crossing: New Horizons topped in the UK. Meanwhile, Minecraft on the Switch did very well, as did Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

The UK has been an area where Nintendo hasn’t always had huge success, but clearly, 2020 was a massive year for The Big N. In Canada, The Nintendo Switch has been the best selling console for over two years. While many fans look for a Nintendo Switch Pro at some point (which could certainly still happen), the standard Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite are still selling so well, that Nintendo certainly shouldn’t feel obligated to add another console into the market.

As far as Dring’s numbers most of them are best guesses or based on retail information for now. Once Nintendo posts official numbers and financial statements, which usually happens around the end of its fiscal year, more concrete information will be known. Nintendo’s hybrid console has been breaking records left and right, like how the Switch became the best selling console for over 22 consecutive months in the US, breaking the record once held by the Xbox 360. It seems as if the Switch is doing just fine all over the world, regardless of a new console generation.

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