Nintendo has numerous million sellers this year, but none are on 3DS.

[zorg1000]

RolStoppable said:

maxleresistant said:

The 3DS sold 15 millions units during its first 9 months (end of february to end of december)

It sold 17 millions during its first year.

And we're talking about a system that ended up not meeting Nintendo's expectations in the last years.

So I don't see how the Switch who is undertracking the 3DS, can replace it alone. Nintendo never said it will, it always was an idea that fans got.

Don't you understand how revenue is generated? Unit sales by selling price.

15m 3DSes at an average selling price of $200 during its first year is $3 billion.
10m Switches at an average selling price of $300 during its first year is $3 billion.

So even assuming that Switch will track far behind the 3DS (not going to happen, but for argument's sake), it's still going to match the 3DS in revenue. Hardware is only one part of the equation though. On the software side, Switch has a higher tie ratio than the 3DS and a higher average selling price per unit. Therefore Switch is going to beat the 3DS so easily that not even 3DS + Wii U combined will be able to keep up.

Most importantly though, revenue isn't as important as profit. During the 3DS era, Nintendo could not once eclipse the 100 billion yen mark in profit; they didn't even come close to getting there. On the other hand, Switch is projected to do it in its first full fiscal year.

Switch is going to pummel 3DS and Wii U combined so hard that it won't be funny.

A couple other key points

1. Digital has a higher profit margin than retail and digital sales are much higher on Switch than 3DS/Wii U.

2. Next year Nintendo is adding a paid online service which will easily generate a few hundred million in revenue each year.