The first Switch unseats Nintendo DS as the best-selling Nintendo game console

The Switch original has become the best-selling Nintendo game console worldwide after exceeding 155 million units, taking over from the previous leader, Nintendo DS.

In the last nine months of 2025, Switch 2, Nintendo’s big launch last year, has sold 17.37 million units worldwide, while its predecessor has been satisfied with 3.25 million units, in the period covering the first three quarters of fiscal year 2026.

As for the first Switch, this is a 66 percent sales decline from the same period in Nintendo’s fiscal 2025, when it recorded sales of 9.54 million units.

The data is in line with the forecasts that the Japanese company shared in May of last year when, on the verge of the launch of Switch 2 (on June 5), it confirmed that it expected to reach 15 million units sold by the end of its fiscal year 2026, which ends on March 31, 2026. For the first Switch, it lowered the figures to sales of 4.5 million units.

These data show he generational change that is occurring in Nintendo’s ‘hardware’. However, although Switch sales have been reduced, the data accumulated since its launch in March 2017 says otherwise: it is already the best-selling console of this brand.

As shared by the company, as of December 31, 2025, 155.37 million Switches have been sold, which has allowed it to surpass Nintendo’s previous best-selling console, DS, which accumulated 154.02 million units. Previously, it was the Game Boy, with 118.69 million units, that held this title.