March 3, 2017, the day the Nintendo Switch console was released worldwide. Initially intended as something of a savior after the commercial failure of the Wii U, the hybrid device that could be played at home in front of the TV and on the go became a huge hit. This year, the Switch celebrated its seventh birthday, and despite the age of the hardware, it continues to sell in large numbers and is also aiming for the top spot.
Anyway, VGC magazine today pointed out an interesting statistic. It’s been 2,687 days since the Switch’s aforementioned release date, making it officially the longest delay between two Nintendo home consoles. The word “domestic” really needs to be emphasized, because if we were to include handhelds, we’d find even longer numbers. There were roughly 8 and a half years between the Game Boy and the Game Boy Color, with the Color being more of a reworking than a completely new system. That was until the Game Boy Advance came out in 2001, 12 years (or 4,352 days to be exact) after the original Game Boy.
However, the Switch currently holds the lead among home consoles, having surpassed the delay between the NES and SNES, which was 2,686 days. Since then, the intervals have been shortening until the big success called the Wii, which, on the other hand, replaced the unsuccessful Wii U, and with it the record on the opposite side of the spectrum, since the Wii U and Switch were only 1,566 days apart.
We’ve known since Friday that Nintendo will announce a new console this fiscal year (by the end of March 2025), but it’s unclear whether the same applies to the release. So the window will likely be extended by at least a few more months, but the Japanese company certainly won’t mind. It already has a new The Legend of Zelda, Mario & Luigi or Super Mario Party planned for the fall season.
The Switch is still selling very well, and it’s possible that it could top the list of the best-selling consoles of all time. The PlayStation 2 still holds the top spot with around 160 million units sold, followed by the Nintendo DS with 154 million. For the Switch, it’s 141 million as of March this year. It sold 15.7 million units in the last fiscal year alone.
It’s official: No Nintendo console has lasted as long as the Switch before being replaced.
It’s been 2,687 days since launch, surpassing the 2,686 days between the Famicom and Super Famicom.https://t.co/J5Yhjiso3i pic.twitter.com/kFXAywrZhk
— Andy Robinson (@Andy_VGC) July 11, 2024
Source : Zing
