Switch has sold more in 3 months than Wii U did in any year.

[DevilRising]

To be perfectly fair, Wii U launched in November of 2012, and in less than two months, as in til the end of that YEAR, sold over 2 million units. In fact I remembered it being closer to 3 million. Meaning that it actually sold really well out of the gate, and had great third party support during that launch window. THEN the game releases screeched to a halt, and the system sales followed suit. And Nintendo never really recovered, both from their game droughts, or their poor marketing in North America.

So yes, Switch is doing well right now, and hopefully will continue to do well. But Wii U DID also do well during it's launch window, which you could argue Switch is technically still within. There are many reasons for Wii U's failure, and one of the chief among them, is that during it's lifetime, it LACKED that one "MUST HAVE" type of game that every other Nintendo console always has. BotW could have certainly been that game, but sadly, it took them a long time to make, and once it was finally ready (2016), the Wii U was effectively dead, and they delayed it to be a Switch "launch title" instead.

It still remains to be seen if Switch can keep it up. I, for one, have not been fully convinced that Nintendo has learned their lessons. The Switch may be the hot new item right now, but I also saw how they just recently handled their NES Mini debacle. Only time will tell if Nintendo has actually changed enough of their ways from the Wii U era, to continue Switch success over the long-term.