Nintendo Switch Sales: Nintendo Switch, Super Mario Odyssey Dominate October Sales Charts

The Nintendo Switch is sort of like cars in New York City: Nobody you know owns one, but traffic is horrible and finding a parking space is impossible. Nine months after its March release, the Switch hybrid console still is not widely available on store shelves despite, and because of, its soaring demand due to huge games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey.

The perception that the Switch is hugely popular is reality, as Glixel reports Nintendo consoles made up two thirds of all hardware sold in the United States in October. As one would expect, the Switch was the top console last month. Behind the Switch were the SNES Classic Edition retro console and the Nintendo 3DS, continuing its more than six year reign in the portable gaming market.

As a sidenote, you can pick up a SNES Classic on Walmart’s website today if your fingers are fast enough.

The globetrotting, hat-throwing adventure Super Mario Odyssey was the highest selling game of October, despite coming out near the end of the month on Oct. 27, the same day as Assassin’s Creed Origins and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Other major releases in October included South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Forza Motorsport 7, and Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. It is worth noting Super Mario Odyssey is the only game on that list that is only available on one platform.

Similarly worth noting is a slightly less encouraging industry trend. Despite several big-name games coming out in October, total software sales were down 11 percent from 2016. October 2016 was a blockbuster month for gaming, with Battlefield 1 headlining a murderer’s row of games that also included Gears of War 4 and cult favorites Mafia 3 and Titanfall 2. This is pure speculation, but it is possible October 2017 was down that much because three of its biggest games came out on the last Friday of the month.

Back on the hardware side of things, the Switch remains as elusive as ever. Early Black Friday ads from retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy promise the Switch will be in stock, at best. There has not been much in the way of scintillating bundles or discounts on the popular console. If you want to find one for holiday shopping purposes, Black Friday might be your best bet.

Due to its unexpected success, Nintendo is reportedly doubling Switch production to help ease the shortages we have seen thus far in its short lifetime. As Glixel points out, Nintendo sold 7.63 million Switch units as of September, which is more than half of what the previous Wii U console sold in its roughly five-year lifetime. Nintendo projects 14 million Switch units sold by March 2018, which would exceed the 13.5 million lifetime mark set by the simultaneously beloved and beleaguered Wii U.

Nintendo cannot release new Mario and Zelda games every year, so it remains to be seen if the Switch’s success is sustainable. Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Yoshi and Kirby: Star Allies are just a few of its short-term upcoming games, while Metroid Prime 4, an eventual Pokemon release and an all-but-confirmed Super Smash Bros. game are further down the line.