Although the Nintendo Switch will soon get its successor (it hasn’t even been announced yet, but the big N will do so by the end of March), it has officially set a record in the meantime.

The Nintendo Switch has been on the market for almost 2700 (2688) days without being replaced by more modern hardware. That’s a record, as no other major N-DESKTOP hardware has ever achieved such longevity (the previous record holder was the NES and, in Japan, the Famicom). If Switch 2 (or whatever it’s called) isn’t released before March 1st, the platform could have reached 2920 days, which would cement its position as the number one platform. Here’s a list of other platforms:

Color TV (June 1, 1977) – Famicom (July 15, 1983) 2235 days

Famicom (July 15, 1983) – Super Famicom (November 21, 1990): 2686 days

Super Famicom (November 21, 1990) – Nintendo 64 (June 23, 1996): 2041 days

Nintendo 64 (June 23, 1996) – Nintendo GameCube (September 14, 2001): 1909 days

Nintendo GameCube (Sep 14, 2001) – Wii (Nov 19, 2006): 1892 days

Wii (Nov 19, 2006) – Wii U (Nov 18, 2012): 2191 days

Wii U (Nov 18, 2012) – Nintendo Switch (Mar 3, 2017): 1566 days

Nintendo Switch (March 3, 2017) – Present (July 12, 2024): 2688 days

So, after a negative record (the Wii U was such a failure), Nintendo has achieved the highest lifespan of any desktop console ever. Well, here’s a twist: handhelds are a different story! The Game Boy was on the market for 4,352 days (!) before its successor, the Game Boy Advance, was released, even though the Game Boy had received a color screen update (Game Boy Color) in the meantime.

Can the Switch beat the DS (154 million sales) or the PS2 (~160 million)?

Source: VGC