Nintendo Switch and the console’s flagship game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, are really, really popular.
The iconic game company sold 906,000 Switch consoles in the U.S. In March, making it the fastest-selling Nintendo game system in history and one of the fastest-selling game consoles of all time. Nintendo (NTDOY) also revealed that it sold more than 1.3 million The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild units to the U.S. During the month, including 925,000 copies for the Nintendo Switch. The remaining copies were sold for the company’s last console, the Wii U.
The data, which was compiled by the NPD Group, a research firm that tracks the U.S. Gaming industry, suggests that Nintendo sold more units of the Switch’s most popular games than units of the hardware itself. The company attributed that to people buying a limited edition version of the game to collect and another to play on the console. Regardless, Breath of the Wild is now the fastest-selling Nintendo launch game of all time and the fastest-selling The Legend of Zelda game of all time.
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For those that have been waiting anxiously for new Nintendo Switch units to be available, Nintendo’s announcement might not be surprising. Since the console’s launch last month, the Switch has been nearly impossible to find on store shelves, and whenever units come in, they’re quickly swiped by fast-acting consumers.
The Switch is designed to be played both at home and on the road. At home, it’s plugged into a dock that connects to the user’s television, allowing him or her to play like any other home console. When the person wants to continue playing away from the television, the Switch can be removed from the dock. The user then plays with the device’s built-in screen and joysticks the company calls “Joy-Cons.”
In a statement on Friday, Nintendo acknowledged that “shipments have not yet been able to keep up with such high demand.” Nintendo wouldn’t say when it would keep pace with demand and only said that it will “continually” ship units to customers. As of this writing, Switch is sold out at all online retailers. Some brick-and-mortar locations might have stock available, though they’re few and far between.
Nintendo plans to announce its worldwide sales and other financial information on April 27.
