https://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-switch-one-year-later/1100-6457124/

Nintendo has been on a roller coaster this century. While its dedicated handheld business has remained strong despite competition from Sony and an explosion in mobile gaming, its console business has been up and down, to say the least. GameCube, a fairly direct competitor to PlayStation 2 and Xbox, sold fewer than 22 million units. Nintendo tried something radically different with Wii and it paid off in spades, selling more than 101 million units. With Wii U, Nintendo again shied away from directly competing with the more traditional (and powerful) consoles offered by Sony and Microsoft, but this time it failed, selling fewer than 14 million units. With nearly 15 million sold already, Nintendo Switch has surpassed expectations, outsold Wii U in less than a year, and looks primed to have another tremendously successful year in 2018. How did we get here?