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[The Chairman]

Announced by Famitsu: 20,018,278 units sold in total, of which 16,168,420 units for the flagship model and 3,849,858 units for the Lite model.

The top five best-selling systems of all time in Japan:

1. Nintendo DS - 32,990,000
2. Nintendo Gameboy + Color - 32,470,000
3. Nintendo 3DS - 25,260,000
4. Playstation 2 - 21,454,325
5. Nintendo Switch - 20,018,278

All numbers except Switch are shipments, but for ancient systems, the difference between shipped and sold is not relevant.

Switch took 4 years and 11 weeks to get there. The other platforms took:

Nintendo DS - 2 years and 50 weeks
Nintendo Gameboy - UNKNOWN
Nintendo 3DS - 4 years and 45 weeks
Playstation 2 - 6 years and 49 weeks

Great milestone for the Switch, and it's still trucking along. Top 3 ranking is basically certain, and it has a shot at becoming the number 1 system of all time in Japan.

スイッチ、国内累計2000万台を突破。歴代ソフト売上トップは累計678万本の『あつ森』 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

ゲーム総合情報メディア・ファミ通は、2021年6月2日、任天堂が2017年3月3日に発売したゲーム機、Nintendo Switch（ニンテンドースイッチ）の国内推定累計販売台数が2000万台を突破したことを発表した。

www.famitsu.com

 

[Orta]

Doomed.

 

[carlosrox]

How the tits did the DS sell that many that fast?

 

[CuteFaceJay]

How the tits did the DS sell that many that fast?

DS was good shit that's why

 

[The artful mincer]

So why do the Japanese love portables way more than Home consoles? They seem to be the opposite of the rest of the world

 

[onesvenus]

Nintendo DS - 2 years and 50 weeks
Nintendo Gameboy - UNKNOWN
Nintendo 3DS - 4 years and 45 weeks
Playstation 2 - 6 years and 49

Where do these numbers come from? They aren't in the article

 

[Ezquimacore]

How the tits did the DS sell that many that fast?

 

[daclynk]

Nintendo should go third party

 

[ranmafan]

So why do the Japanese love portables way more than Home consoles? They seem to be the opposite of the rest of the world

One big reason, convenience. It’s just much easier for people to play games on a portable here and most people prefer it. Also the lineup is more diverse in titles for all ages, especially for the youth of Japan. All the games they want are on it. It’s a market Playstation has kind of abandoned here in Japan.
Having said all that it should be noted a lot of switch gamers here love playing it on tv mainly as well. Ironically I don’t see as many people with switch systems out and about in my city than I did DS systems and psps, but I do hear about how so many use it on their TVs.

 

[Robb]

Neat. Seems like Switch could take the 3rd spot from the 3DS in that list.

 

[The artful mincer]

One big reason, convenience. It’s just much easier for people to play games on a portable here and most people prefer it. Also the lineup is more diverse in titles for all ages, especially for the youth of Japan. All the games they want are on it. It’s a market Playstation has kind of abandoned here in Japan.
Having said all that it should be noted a lot of switch gamers here love playing it on tv mainly as well. Ironically I don’t see as many people with switch systems out and about in my city than I did DS systems and psps, but I do hear about how so many use it on their TVs.

Thanks that's interesting.

 

[Coolwhhip]

After WiiU I admit I thought Nintendo was fucked. What I would like to know is how many kids got a Switch and are now hooked on Nintendo for decades and how many Switch owners are 80s/90s kids.

 

[The Chairman]

Where do these numbers come from? They aren't in the article

From the Resetera thread.

Famitsu: Nintendo Switch passes 20M units sold in Japan, 5th system to reach that milestone

Announced via a report by Famitsu: 20,018,278 units sold in total, of which 16,168,420 units for the flagship model and 3,849,858 units for the Lite model. The top five best-selling systems of all time in Japan: Nintendo DS - 32,990,000 Nintendo Gameboy + Color - 32,470,000 Nintendo 3DS -...

www.resetera.com

 

[Kokoloko85]

I loved the Wii U But The best decision they made was to go handheld. The only console to sell 20m is PS2.
Japan Loves handhelds lol

 

[K1Expwy]

PSP didn't sell 20m in JP? Old Media-Create threads on GAF claimed it did

 

[Amin_Parker]

Congratulations to the Big N

 

[daclynk]

One big reason, convenience. It’s just much easier for people to play games on a portable here and most people prefer it. Also the lineup is more diverse in titles for all ages, especially for the youth of Japan. All the games they want are on it. It’s a market Playstation has kind of abandoned here in Japan.
Having said all that it should be noted a lot of switch gamers here love playing it on tv mainly as well. Ironically I don’t see as many people with switch systems out and about in my city than I did DS systems and psps, but I do hear about how so many use it on their TVs.

i never knew that, its nice to see.

 

[The Chairman]

Congratulations to the Big N

いいね！何ゲームが買った？

Spoiler

my Japanese is rusty so don't mind if there are any mistakes

 

[Birdo]

Those 20M units will be obsolete next week

 

[KungFucius]

After WiiU I admit I thought Nintendo was fucked. What I would like to know is how many kids got a Switch and are now hooked on Nintendo for decades and how many Switch owners are 80s/90s kids.

Or in my case an 80s kid who bought the switch his 20's kid plays daily. Though he has a ton of games to play bits and pieces of where I was a bit older when I got a NES and had a handful of games until rentals became a thing.

 

[Rat Rage]

This is nothing special. It was a given, since the Switch is the only handheld console left in Japan.

 

[Amin_Parker]

いいね！何ゲームが買った？

Spoiler

my Japanese is rusty so don't mind if there are any mistakes

I picked up the one and only The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Also your Japanese was very good, I was able to understand everything that you wrote in your sentence. I would have replied back to you in Japanese but I'm not sure if we are allowed to do that here on this site.

 

[TKOFromTokyo]

Nintendo should go third party

 

[tkscz]

One big reason, convenience. It’s just much easier for people to play games on a portable here and most people prefer it. Also the lineup is more diverse in titles for all ages, especially for the youth of Japan. All the games they want are on it. It’s a market Playstation has kind of abandoned here in Japan.
Having said all that it should be noted a lot of switch gamers here love playing it on tv mainly as well. Ironically I don’t see as many people with switch systems out and about in my city than I did DS systems and psps, but I do hear about how so many use it on their TVs.

Well you said it yourself, convenience. The Switch isn't exactly a handheld you can just put in your pocket and go with. Compared to other handhelds, it's a big system. Even the switch lite outsizes the Vita, making it barely pocketable. So the convenience is kind of gone out the window unless you don't mind lugging around a carrying case.

Also I swear we had a thread like this before. With someone mentioning how the PS2 is the only console to reach over 20m and everything.

 

[DeepEnigma]

All handhelds sans PS2. Ironic.

 

[Lionel Richie]

B Bodomism my ninja this one is for you bro, Ninty just keeps on dominating!

 

[Astral Dog]

So why do the Japanese love portables way more than Home consoles? They seem to be the opposite of the rest of the world

Idk about you, but everyone loves portables and smartphones... DS, GameBoy, PSP, were big success on the US, 3DS less so but was able to keep up.

Its interesting too note that Switch is NOT a traditional portable, its considered a 'console' by Nintendo, the hybrid Switch sells bigger numbers than the cheaper portable only Switch Lite so people like Docked mode too

 

[Astral Dog]

Well you said it yourself, convenience. The Switch isn't exactly a handheld you can just put in your pocket and go with. Compared to other handhelds, it's a big system. Even the switch lite outsizes the Vita, making it barely pocketable. So the convenience is kind of gone out the window unless you don't mind lugging around a carrying case.

Also I swear we had a thread like this before. With someone mentioning how the PS2 is the only console to reach over 20m and everything.

Switch is convenient as a home system, and its just a tablet not big.

Switch lite sells much less than its bigger expensive hybrid brother

 

[ranmafan]

Well you said it yourself, convenience. The Switch isn't exactly a handheld you can just put in your pocket and go with. Compared to other handhelds, it's a big system. Even the switch lite outsizes the Vita, making it barely pocketable. So the convenience is kind of gone out the window unless you don't mind lugging around a carrying case.

Also I swear we had a thread like this before. With someone mentioning how the PS2 is the only console to reach over 20m and everything.

You’re right, it is pretty big compared to past portables. Although people carrying around bags here is so common that one can expect them to have no problem carrying it around with them. The whole I can put in in my pocket experience just isn’t as big of a deal here as the total convenience factor which the regular switch gives them, thus why the light version has never sold as much as people predicted it would in Japan as it lacked the features that made people go crazy for it from the start. Honestly even in the days of ds/3ds/psp/vita I never saw anyone put their systems in their pockets, and always used and carried cases, sometimes big ones.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

We love portable gaming in Japan.

 

[NintendosBooger]

I forget sometimes how much of a beast the DS was.