The Nintendo Switch conquered the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and most of the rest of the video game industry in 2018
- The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling video game console of 2018, besting Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One.
- Nintendo also led all video game publishers in software sales for the first time since 2009.
- Six of the year's top 20 best-selling games were Nintendo Switch exclusives.
- Nintendo expects to ship 38 million Switch consoles by March 2019. In the U.S. alone, 8.7 million Switch units have been sold from March 2017 to November 2018.
Nintendo had an impressive 2018 - the analysts at the NPD Group report that the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console of the year, and that for the the first time since 2009, the Japanese company earned more revenue from its games than any other publisher.
Nintendo's latest console is also the newest of the major video game platforms; Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One were both released in 2013.
Nintendo reports that 8.7 million Switch units have been sold in the U.S. from its launch in March 2017 through November 2018. The NPD group reports that December sales for the Switch were the highest for any console since the Nintendo Wii in December 2009. Riding the sales of the Switch, overall console sales grew to their highest totals since 2009, too.
Nintendo has told investors that it expects to ship 38 million Switch consoles worldwide by the time of its three-year anniversary in March 2019, but Bloomberg has reported that the company is on pace to ship closer to 35 million units to retailers in that span.
The Switch sold roughly 18 million units from March 2017 to March 2018, its first year on the market, and Nintendo hopes to increase sales by the close of year two. In an interview with Japan's Sankei News, translated by Nintendo Everything, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said the company knows the goal is ambitious, but it will continue to aim high.
Read more: The 7 biggest things to expect from Nintendo in 2019
Rumors have suggested that Nintendo could be planning an update for the Switch hardware in the near future, but Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said the company will stick to its current plans. Furukawa told the Sankei News that there's no Switch successor or price cut in the works.
Six of the top 20 best-selling games of 2018 were Nintendo Switch exclusives, including "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate" and "Pokemon: Let's Go," which sold 5 million and 3 million copies worldwide, respectively.
Other upcoming Switch games include "Yoshi's Crafted World," "Animal Crossing" and "Fire Emblem: Three Houses." Nintendo recently announced that one of its most-anticipated upcoming games, "Metroid Prime 4," will restart development from scratch after failing to meet company standards.