Nintendo Switch — The Hybrid Console

The Nintendo Switch was released on 3 March 2017 in both North America and Japan. It cost US$299.99 in the United States and ¥29,980 before tax in Japan. According to Nintendo's news release, it went on sale the same day in Japan, the United States, Canada, major European markets, Australia, Hong Kong and other regions.

Nintendo's IR table of sales by region also records it as "released on March 3, 2017", with the region given as "Japan, U.S., Europe and other regions". The three-year gap between Japan and North America in the Famicom era had shrunk to nothing.

From "NX" to launch

According to English Wikipedia, Nintendo first acknowledged the machine on 17 March 2015, when it announced its partnership with DeNA and mentioned hardware with a brand-new concept under the code name "NX". The name, and the way the console moved between living room and hands, were shown in a video on 20 October 2016. Price and release date were announced on 13 January 2017 (Japan time; 12 January in the United States), about seven weeks before launch.

What was in the box, and three ways to play

Nintendo's 13 January 2017 release lists the contents: the console, the left and right Joy-Con (L) and Joy-Con (R), the Joy-Con grip, Joy-Con straps, the Nintendo Switch dock, an HDMI cable and an AC adapter. Buyers could choose neon blue and neon red Joy-Con, or grey.

Those parts correspond to the ways of playing. Nintendo names three: TV mode, tabletop mode and handheld mode. The dock and HDMI cable connect the console to a television; the detachable Joy-Con can be used attached to the console or separated from it. Lift the console out of the dock and the game in progress moves to your hands. Nintendo had always built home consoles and handhelds as separate machines; this design asked one machine to be both.

At its core is a custom NVIDIA Tegra processor, which English Wikipedia describes as based on the Tegra X1. Games available at launch included The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch, according to the same article.

Three consoles, one library

Two differently shaped models joined the original after launch:

The Switch Lite's date and price come from Nintendo's release of 10 July 2019; the OLED Model's from a Famitsu article reporting Nintendo's announcement of 6 July 2021. Prices are shown with or without tax as each announcement stated them.

By region and by model

Nintendo's IR table of sales by region (cumulative to the fiscal year ended March 2026) breaks down the Switch's 155.92 million consoles as follows. The table counts the Switch Lite and the OLED Model "of which", that is, inside the Switch total.

Japan's share is high: about a quarter of all units, against roughly an eighth for the Wii. In Japan the OLED Model, at 10.01 million, reached almost half the original model's total. In the fiscal year that contained the launch—just 3 to 31 March 2017—Nintendo sold 2.74 million units, 0.60 million of them in Japan and 1.20 million in the Americas.

How many were sold

Nintendo's IR figures for worldwide consolidated sales give the Switch 156.59 million consoles and 1,561.95 million games (table as of 30 June 2026). That is the highest figure for any Nintendo hardware in the table—just ahead of the Nintendo DS at 154.02 million, and more than 50 million ahead of the next home console, the Wii, at 101.63 million. Across all manufacturers, English Wikipedia ranks it second among consoles, behind the PlayStation 2.

The successor

Eight years and three months later, on 5 June 2025, Nintendo released the successor. Its launch price and early sales are covered on the Nintendo Switch 2 page. Nintendo's hardware line as a whole is traced on the Nintendo page.