The original Switch is officially Nintendo’s best-selling console of all time after surpassing the DS handheld in lifetime sales. In its latest earnings release, Nintendo reported that the Nintendo Switch has sold 155.37 million units by December 31, 2025, since its launch in 2017, compared to 154.02 million units for the 2004 Nintendo DS.
In November, Nintendo revealed that the Switch and DS were close to each other. We expected the Switch to overtake the DS in the holiday sales period, even as Nintendo announced that primary development would focus on the Switch 2. Nintendo previously said it would continue to sell the original Switch “in consideration of consumer demand and the business environment.”
If Nintendo wants to dethrone Sony’s PlayStation 2 as the best-selling video game console of all time, it will have to keep selling the Switch. The PlayStation 2, which was discontinued in January 2013, sold more than 160 million units over its 13-year lifespan.
Demand for the Switch 2 spiked during the holidays, with Nintendo reporting that 7.01 million units were sold during the October to December quarter, compared to 4.54 million units sold in the previous quarter. Overall, the Switch 2 has sold 17.37 million units since its launch in June 2025, taking less than a year to surpass the Wii U’s 13.7 million lifetime sales.
The Switch 2 launch has helped Nintendo increase net profit by 51 percent in the first nine months of FY26, reaching ¥358.86 billion (about $2.31 billion). Net sales nearly doubled during the same period, rising to ¥1.906 trillion (about $12.2 billion), compared with ¥956.2 billion ($6.1 billion) the previous year. Looking ahead, Nintendo has maintained its forecast of selling 19 million Switch 2 units by the end of this fiscal year.
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