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Nintendo Switch set a new sales record during Black Friday, despite few discounts

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Nintendo is one of the stingiest companies in the video game industry when it comes to discounting its game consoles, and the Nintendo Switch has stuck to its $300 price tag for nearly three years. Despite that, a strong lineup of games helped the Switch to have its best sales week in the United States during Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

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According to Nintendo, from November 24 through November 30, the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite consoles managed to sell more than 830,000 units in the United States, making it the best sales week ever in the country and pushing United States lifetime sales to 17.5 million.

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In addition to the Nintendo Switch Lite being a full $100 cheaper than its large sibling, the Switch received several great games shortly before the holiday that likely drove sales. Luigi’s Mansion 3 released to critical acclaim on October 31, and Pokémon Sword and Shield launched just a few weeks earlier and have already managed to sell a combined 3 million units in the Americas alone.

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The Switch itself didn’t receive any truly substantial deals during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events, with Nintendo still packing in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and selling it for the standard $300 despite it being an older model with less battery life. Other promotions included eShop credit and a microSDXC card for use in the system, but it didn’t need the huge price cuts of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in order to sell well. Certain games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, were also discounted during Black Friday and helped give shoppers a great stocking-stuffer during Christmas.

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Nintendo is going to have a lot more competition during Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2020. Microsoft is planning to launch its Xbox Project Scarlett during the holidays next year, and Sony is going to launch the PlayStation 5. Both systems will be vastly more powerful than the Switch, as the Xbox One and PS4 already have a pretty big power advantage today. Of course, those systems won’t be portable or have a way to play the latest Zelda game, so Nintendo may not have too much to worry about.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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