Nintendo Out-Performs PS4, Xbox One to Become Fastest Selling Console

In the ever-going battle in the console wars, a new king has emerged. The Nintendo Switch has officially become the fastest selling gaming console of the current generation.

According to a report by the NPD Group, a major market research company, The Nintendo Switch sold more units during the first 21 months of its life than the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4. They cite the Nintendo console at a total of 8.7 million unit sales between its launch on March 2017 through November 2018. To compare, the Xbox One had sold around 3.9 million units during its first two years, and the PlayStation 4 sold around 7 million units during its first two years.

NPD Group also stated that Nintendo was the "overall top-selling U.S. software publisher for 2018" so far. This can be largely attributed to the consoles major franchise titles hitting record sales, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Since this information stopped in November 2018, it didn't include sales from Super Smash Bros Ultimate. The popular fighting game released in early December, but it became Amazon's best-selling video game on preorders alone.

Doug Bowser, Nintendo of Americas Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, said the following in a press release by Nintendo.

We are thrilled to see such a strong reaction from consumers in the second holiday season for Nintendo Switch. We're looking forward to delivering more excitement and smiles to our fans in the coming year and beyond.

This has been an amazing year for Nintendo. The Nintendo Switch has been a massively successful device. At the same time, a veritable smorgasbord of amazing content has been releasing for the console. The company stated that this is the best hardware year they've had since 2011 and that eShop digital sales have grown more than double (105 percent to be specific) over the last year.