“On a time-aligned basis through the first 10 months on the market, Nintendo Switch has sold more consoles than any other platform in history,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.

https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/18/december-npd-2017-nintendo-switch-leads-the-hardware-pack-in-a-3-29-billion-month/

So this includes handhelds also same like home consoles.

Cool....lets see how switch is in 5 years.
Hopefully i wont end like 3ds or wii

Well 3DS will be 75m+ and Wii is 100m+, both are good numbers. :)

I always thought the console race is a marathon.

The Switch train keeps a-goin. Plowing through sales like it was cardboard!

Considering the 3DS picked up later in its lifespan, wouldn't that boost sales even further if it ended like that considering the Switch has a stronger start?  ;)

Also the Wii sold over 100mil.  =P

5 years is enough to release another Pokemon later on, same for Mario and Zelda. Those will guarantee late momentum.

This makes me think that launching a new console in feb, so you can benefit from extra sales in the holidays (that arnt the fanboys/guaranteed sales) is better.

Im not sure theres a big benefit from launching in novemeber/december, like console makers have done in the past.
Theres a "core" user base, that ll always adapt early, and those guys/gals buy whenever it launches.
Then your sold out (usually) in the first year, just ruining your holiday boost.

Nintendos way of launching early in the year makes more sense to me, that way you dont risk wasteing your first holidays.

Great stuff Nintendo!

I think it has to do with sales expectations from third party software, I think I read somewhere 3rd party publishers want consoles to release on holiday season since they get more sales or something like that

Anyway, I think a march launch would make sales for succesful consoles like NS or PS4 look better on the get go, but maybe a not succesful one would get worse results than launching on holidays