For those wondering what the Wii U’s lifetime sales in Japan are, it is said to be at a little over 3.3 million units. Assuming the numbers are accurate, the Switch in Japan has managed to sell 3.4 million units to date, and in less than a year since the console was released (it was released on the 3rd of March, 2017).
Japan: according to Famitsu sales data, Switch has officially outsold Wii U lifetime sales this week (NSW: 3.407.158, WIIU: 3.301.555)
Switch needed ~10 months to achieve what the Wii U did in like 6 yearshttps://t.co/peIvS0gWur pic.twitter.com/9DSKb2SfmG
— Nibel (@Nibellion) January 6, 2018
Like we said, at the rate the console is being said, this doesn’t really come as a surprise. So far Nintendo has boasted that they’ve managed to sell 10 million units worldwide, making it shy of 4 million units in order to pass the Wii U’s lifetime sales globally. The console has been extremely well-received based on reviews, and was also named as TIME’s Top Gadget of 2017.
There are of course some criticisms over the console and its design and also some of the choices Nintendo made, such as making voice chat a separate feature from the console and requiring a smartphone app.