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zorg1000 said:
VideoGameAccountant said:

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is how well Nintendo's other handhelds have performed. Here is a brief rundown of each of Nintendo's handhelds by global sales

System Sales
Game Boy 118.69 M
Game Boy Advance 81.51 M
Nintendo DS  154.02M
Nintendo 3DS 75.45 M
Average Sales 107.41 M

Keep in mind too that the GBA was cut off early so it was only on the market for about 4-5 years. But as you can see, the average for Nintendo's handhelds is 107 million. This is already about where the PS4 is at. Switch only needs to sell a bit more above the average which is very doable. Nintendo's Q3 results aren't out yet but so far Switch sales are up about 30 percent through the first 6 months. 

I think this assumption that it can't happen is really driven by people looking at the console side and not the handheld side. There is a reason Nintendo made a hybrid system.

GBA was cut short but on the other hand Gameboy had an insane sales curve thanks to Pokemon & GBC causing it to peak in its 10th year and went 12 years before getting a successor which is unheard of so I think they cancel each other out.

Keep in mind Game Boy was released in a much different time. Game sales were no where what they were today. The NES was considered a phenomenon but only sold 60 million worldwide. Game Boy did have a much longer lifespan than many other consoles with 12 years overall. But I think when you consider that sales were much lower overall then the differences sort of equal out. 



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