With nearly 6 million units sold, Nintendo Switch
consoles accounted for 87% of all console sales in Japan in 2020.According to Famitsu/KADOKAWA data (via GamesIndustry.biz), the normal Nintendo Switch sold 3.9 million units, while the Switch Lite sold over 2 million.
There were 6.85 million consoles sold in Japan in 2020, and PS4 came in second place with around 543,000 units. PS5 sold over 255,000 units.
Japan’s game market brought in over $3.5 billion, which is up 12.5% year-over-year. Console hardware sales and boxed game sales saw increases year-over-year of 16.4% and 9%, respectively.
Nintendo also accounted for almost 50% of all boxed game sales in 2020, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons being the best-selling boxed game of the year with nearly 6.4 million copies sold. Ring Fit Adventure came in second place with 1.5 million units sold, and Momotaro Dentetsu: Showa Heisei Reiwa mo Teiban! came in third place with 1.2 million copies sold.
Nintendo Switch’s success obviously extended beyond Japan, with it achieving the second-highest annual dollar sales in U.S. console history in 2020. The Switch has also been the best-selling console in the U.S. for 25 consecutive months.Even though the Switch’s success is showing no sign of slowing down, it hasn’t stopped many from wishing for the long-rumored Nintendo Switch Pro. While many hope that it will launch in 2021 alongside The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, analysts are a bit more conflicted.Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.