The enthusiasm for the Switch does not run out. The Nintendo console sold almost a million units in France in 2022, bringing the total to more than 7 million sales since its release in March 2017, the video game giant announced on Sunday.
Thanks to the 987,000 Switches sold last year, the Nintendo console brings its total of 7.1 million sales in France, beating the previous “record” set by the Wii with a total of 6.3 million units, explained Philippe Lavoué, General Manager of Nintendo France . Other data that underline the strong presence of the console among consumers: “10.5% of the 67 million French are equipped with a Switch”.
A “historic year” for Pokémon
On the gaming side, Nintendo recaptured first place in the sales ranking for 2022 thanks to Pokémon Arceus, dethroning the annual release of the Fifa soccer sim on PlayStation 4. The Switch also placed nine titles in the top 10, again thanks to the new Pokémon games, that will be released at the end of 2022 (Pokémon Violet and Pokémon Scarlet, which together have more than 700,000 copies), but also other older ones such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With three titles in the market’s top 10, Pokémon is also having “a historic year”, emphasizes Philippe Lavoué. “This is unheard of for a franchise in France.”
Data for other devices, such as Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox series, will be released shortly by the Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers’ annual study.