Early NPD Figures Suggest Nintendo Outperformed The Competition In January

would be a disaster if they didnt. Both sony and MS are gearing up for their new consoles probably both will be announced this year. Everyone who wants one already has a PS4 xbox one and waiting and saving for the next gen consoles. im just hoping Nintendo announces a 3ds replacment even if its a mini switch this year. As its just to big to lug around for quick blast gaming.

Great news/rumors!! Even of KH 3 came to PS4, Switch is the king for one more month!! <3

Comparisons should instead be made to the first two years of the PS4 and the Xbox 1. As it is, the results mean little.

Haters trying real hard to dismiss good sales.

Good sales are good sales. If it's Switch, PS4 or Xbone. Never understand why some people want the other companies to fail.

Great for Switch but the PS4 is a beast. It will reach 100 million quite comfortably I reckon.

I am just happy I own both, and to a lesser extent the Xbox One which is basically just my Killer Instinct machine.

So, what are the odds that Switch beats PS4 lifetime sales? It looks like PS4 will do Wii/PS1/Gameboy numbers, not PS2/DS numbers.

@SBandy the PS4 is at 95 million sold already, it will reach 100 very soon. Probably it will end around the 125 millions mark, especially if they cut the price...

The Switch should reach 18 millions this fiscal year, 17,5 is a given, I dare to say. Which will put it at 35 millions at the end of its second year (plus the launch month). They've got quite the line up this year to perform like a beast both HW and SW. Let's see their next sales prediction at the end of april, I expect it to be beyond 20 millions

@SuperCharlie78

Cool, didn't realise PS4 was at 95 mill already last I heard was 84 mill.

Nintendo's second half of 2019 is insane. Mario Maker 2 will move consoles but that is nothing compared to what Animal Crossing and a Pokemom RPG will do.

@Zuljaras so what should switch sales be compared to if not PS4 and Xbox one?

@Heavyarms55 this!

People Should be happy to see all companies do well. It's great for the industry.

I've definitely noticed an upturn in Switch awareness and ownership in the young people I work with recently (in UK). Teenage boys who are classic FIFA lads buying it and loving Mario Kart - and one who bought Smash and introduced it to the rest. They loved it - no surprise there but a definite change from recent times - they still hadn't even heard of Breath of the Wild though!!

The weird thing I saw this weekend away with a bunch of families was two young kids from separate families - both with new Switches - neither owning ANY Nintendo games - not even MarioKart! Just Minecraft, FIFA and Lego games! One parent said they hadn't really got into the Switch that much - No S**t!!

This is Uk - the general culture just isn't very tuned in to the magic of Nintendo games. Nintendo has plenty of work to do to here - persuading kids and educating parents of the special social qualities that their games offer. They and should be trying to get the parents joining in instead of looking at it as vaugly negative 'screen time' for the kids.

@Zuljaras if you compare Switch sales with PS4, the Switch is on track, if not above.
If you compare it with the Xbox One, well, the Switch is gonna reach One LTD sales this year...

@Zuljaras Hard? They're already either at or around 35 million Switch units sold LTD. Even if they have a relatively poor year they'll sell 15 million units to hit 50 million LTD over the next 12 months.

XBox One is somewhere in the 40-50 million units bracket. Switch will overtake that figure this year.

@Zuljaras
I was talking about life to date sales, which are 33-34 millions for the Switch and slightly more than 40 millions for the One.
Clearly, if we compare One's first 2 years sales with the Switch first 2 years, which was what you were asking for, the Switch is selling extremely better

@TheFanatic When compared against the first 2 years of the PS4 Switch sales are ahead.

This doesn't actually mean very much however - as you'd noted (but for very different reasons). Now that we're beyond the point of debating whether Switch is successful and viable or not (we're just debating the magnitude of its success) hardware sales are no longer a particularly important metric.

Does someone who buys a PS4 at this point really have an impact on the succcess of the PS4 as a format? No. They're probably not buying very many full price games, they're buying the consoles at knock down prices, big publishers are already moving their big money franchises forwards to the PS5/XBox One 2. The important adopters were those who bought one in the first 2 years.

The same goes for the Switch. The people who will amass a collection of 20+ games and account for 75%+ of the gaming spend (outside of a handful of big one off games) already own the Switch.

@Zuljaras nope, it is at 33-34 millions LTD and will likely close this fiscal year at 35,5

Obvious, it wasn't when they revealed it, was it?
Maybe now it's more obvious when you see it leaving stores like hot cakes, but it was far from obvious at the beginning...

Normally I'm annoyed by year-to-year metrics because they're usually based on the business world's obsession with an out of context demand to always do better.

So I'm glad this factored in practical meanings.

@Zuljaras 2nd January on market: PS4 190k, XBONE 150K. Highest January sales of all 3 if correct.

As with all stats make of that what u will

@Heavyarms55
Now i can accept my PS4 Slim like no hatred feeling like last year.
I played my PS4 games such as Portal Knights, The Sims 4, FF XII the Zodiac again lately.
But....
PS4 is still my SECONDARY machine, as Complementary of my Nintendo machines because i have realized if i will never get a lot of good stuffs from PS4 and other Sony machines. (Except PS2 & PS1)

Oh, btw...
Psst... I have bought a secondhanded Blue PSP type 3000 from my local game shop 2 weeks ago since now i consider PSP as my additional machine from my Wild Cards (PSP, PAL 3DS, USA PS2 & Japanese Wii).
But unfortunately i still haven't got any PSP games. 😅
Well, maybe i will get them on this year.

Heh Nintendo Life, why don't you just follow and quote the Resetera sales thread if you are going to report on stuff like this, rather than sourcing someone who tweeted info that has clearly been gathered from that thread?

Anyway, Nintendo Switch just need some Model redesign, White color, Ambient Music for U/I, Customable wallpaper like on PS4, Tegra X2, Longer batery life and we can get Huge sales from Nintendo Switch 2.0

@TheFanatic By the end of 2015 the PS4 had sold 36.5 million, Xbox One 19.5m. They had been on the market for just under 26 months by that time and had 3 holiday seasons. Switch is expected to be at around 34 million at the end of its 2nd year and has only had 2 holiday seasons, so it's doing at least as well as the PS4 was at this stage of its life. With PS4 looking likely to surpass 100 million at some point, there's a good chance Switch will reach that too.

@Zuljaras I'd say by this time next year Switch will have passed 50 million and likely Xbox One lifetime sales on the way.

I wish people would stop using the term gimmick when discussing the switching nature of the Switch. A gimmick is a trick to lure people in with little to no substance. Being able to switch between portable and docked is not a gimmick and revolutionises how we play. Period exclamation marks

PS4 is still well dispite its age. I can only assume it's replacements or upgrades and price for those who are late for the console party.

This has to be expected, if the Switch ends up outselling PS4 completely then you've got real news.

@misterMike "It's not fair to compare PS4 and XB1 to Switch when they competed against each other and Switch competes against itself."

Mhh, this makes little to no sense to me, unless they retired the PS4 and One from stores, which they didn't.

The Switch success is even more impressive considering that other consoles had a 3 years line up already available and lots of big projects on the way, and that a Xbox One has been a lot cheaper than the Switch for ages. Even the PS4 is cheaper than the Switch lol.

PS4 sales just keep going. Very impressive. I bet Sony would rather they had a few more years of the console, selling as many games as possible, rather than having to ready a PS5. But they won't want to give anyone a headstart.

To be selling these numbers in year 6... just brilliant.

Switch is obviously the fresh face big seller for the moment. And its audience it so engaged. It'll be good to see if Nintendo can maintain it.

This article overlooks a key factor when comparing January 2018 to January 2019.

January 2018 included five weeks of tracking, versus four weeks of tracking for January 2019.

From the Resetera Thread, here are the weekly averages compared:

2018

NSW 275K
PS4 254K
XB1 235K

2019

NSW 284k (+3%)
PS4 195k (-23%)
XB1 101k (-57%)

Last January was 5 weeks, this January is 4 weeks.

Weekly averages are

2018

NSW 55k
PS4 51k
XB1 47K

2019
NSW 71k (+29%)
PS4 49k (-4%)
XB1 25K (-47%)

@misterMike Games are the only things that sell consoles

The Switch is an absolute success, 2019 is shaping up to be a pretty packed year for software. I couldn't be happier to be a Nintendo/PC guy.

@Zuljaras 32 million were sold up until 31 of December

I would be all over a hardware revision. I love my switch, but there is definitely room for improvement. I'd love to see a pro model with better specs, optional dpad joycons, a more portable dock, a thinner screen bezel and a TB of storage. Then I could pass the 'vanilla' one on to my grubby-fingered kids. 😁

@Dringo Nintendo will easily maintain it this year, actually the switch will probably sell 20 something million this year
The question is about 2020, it is very early to talk about it, but so many studios of Nintendo release huge projects this year, that I don’t know what could be planned for 2020

The rumors are already out of course:
Bayoneta 3, pikmin 4, Mario Kart 9, something Zelda and of course something Mario

But all of this are rumors so we will see

Well, the PS4 and Xbox are nearing the end of their cycles, so this news really isn't surprising that their business contracted a bit. At some point, it reaches a near-full saturation level.

PS4 just had its 3 back to back to back best selling years, and as one of the best selling consoles of the modern era. Nobody can tell me Switch topping it isnt significant.

But if it makes people feel better, Switch is outselling them launch aligned too. So the whole "but they're older" argument doesn't hold water on a pound for pound comparison. Compare it to now (PS4 best selling years) or compare it launch aligned. Either way its selling more. That's just what it is.

I have 3 switches but only 1 ps4. I wonder how many others are like this?

Every time there's an NPD article, a brigade of PushSquare fanboys come in here to mass downvote anybody making a positive comment about Switch sales.

How insecure are you to feel the need to do that? Just enjoy your games of choice and let others enjoy theirs.

Not surprising as PS4 and XB1 are nearing the end of their lifespans meanwhile Switch is still in its early days if it ends up with a decent lifespan.

I have to agree with several people above me that have commented, these are consoles that have sold already for years. It's great that the Switch is doing well, but if you tell me this when the PS5 and the new XBOX is out, it'll impress me.

@Heavyarms55 "Haters trying real hard to dismiss good sales.
Good sales are good sales. If it's Switch, PS4 or Xbone. Never understand why some people want the other companies to fail."

It's called TRolls trolling. That fact it takes 2 years for Switch to become this popular rolls their bunghole. Some grab at old numbers to try to dismiss Switch sales. If you go their same route and years the Switch could also beat their sales using the same number years as well.

@Tantani There will come a point where the Zelda, Mario teams etc... are ready with their next projects. But content acquisition is always something Nintendo seems to be working on

@Donutman why you got 3 Switches for yourself? Or you mean your household have 3 because of 3 people in your household bought

@SuperCharlie78 PS4 will definitely break 100M sales, but its not likely going much higher than that. PS4 will be dead in the water when the PS5 is announced. It doesn't have the Non-gaming Appeal of the PS2 necessary to keep pushing it after it's successor is on the market.

January NPD hardware sales for all 3 consoles this generation:

PS4
2014-271,000
2015-189,000
2016-227,000
2017-211,000
2018-254,000
2019-195,000

XBO
2014-142,000
2015-150,000
2016-130,000
2017-157,000
2018-235,000
2019-101,000

NSW
2018-270,000
2019-284,000

The Switch sold more in January 2019 in the US than any other console in the last 8 years. Even when the PS4/XBO/3DS were brand new, they never sold that much.

Unless PS5 can offer something to set it apart from the PS4 other than slightly better graphics I can see the Switch remaining competitive for the next few four years.

This is the same guy who '''''''leaked'''''' that a Call of Duty would be launched for Switch... in 2018. He is the same who said that Metroid Prime Trilogy and 4 would appear last year.

No, thank you. I believe more in my cat than on him.

@misterMike
The Switch would sell the same as it is selling right now because the Switch is not a direct competitor to the PS4 and XBO. The success of the Switch is almost entirely driven by the success of first party Nintendo output, which won't be impacted by the release of new hardware from Sony/Microsoft.

BTW, these are called "leaked" NPD results for a reason...

@EasyDaRon @Zuljaras
im always confused by these comments, on one hand you guys say don't compare or celebrate but on the other when ps4 and xbox are above switch sales its suddenly okay to?
It doesn't add up, they all compete in the same market space, right now the ps4 and one are at its cheapest with bargain priced games, its the perfect time to buy. HECK i bought my own ps4 recently cause of that, as did all my friends. So whhhaaa

@westman98 lol this wasn't true 15 years ago with the GameCube and N64 it sure as hell isn't true now. Nintendo's first party drives sales, sure. BUT its the library thats present that is the incentive to buy and keep.When BotW came out a whole bunch of people held off due to the library, months after the wii released people returned it by droves. Unlike microsoft and sony where 3rd party drives sales and exclusives are the incentive nintendo is the opposite. BUT with all companies its a requirement, so you can sure as hell bet when all 3rd parties go to other consoles, it does affect sales and perception. Your viewing things from a gamers perspective but when you see a consumer eho walks into an ebgames or GAME what they see are the games available and among those are the coming soon, if you always see these crazy cool games coming for ps4 and xbox one and not switch. It defers you fron buying

It was also the best January of the generation, so it is an accomplishment.

@Zuljaras I would have to compare within the context of each scenario. For example if not with direct sales I would compare with aligned sales. Its just so silly cause I always find that any 1 console is older its this great feat for it to outsell a newer console but in a lot of ways that makes sense. Console lives only get better with time. And yet everybody here spells doom and gloom like they the tabloids.
p.s have the switch and ps pro too. So lol if you got smash lets duke it out!only 1 way to know whos truly right:p

@Zuljaras lol wut! whyiy?

@X-blades
I mean, there aren't exactly a ton of brand new 3rd party titles on Switch, yet its outperforming the other platforms even when launch aligned. No point in comparing the Switch to its 15+ year-old predecessors when it is clear they differ wildly in commercial performance.

People are buying the Switch to play 1st party titles. That's not going to change in 2019, especially during the second half of the year.

@eltomo you may well be right. I have bought 3. Bought original, then bought pro and put the original in the kids play room then had to replace the original when it died and the kids had gotten use to having one. It does not increase the software sales one bit. I do wonder how much the pro and X increased the generations sales as it's the first time there was a real reason to go out and update for home consoles.

So basically what everyone has been saying for the past 2 years. You still need to buy a real home console with AAA support.

More than half the people walking into a store are buying something other than a Switch.

Or more likely - adding one platform to the other they already own.

@misterMike
Well that's assuming people are more interested in 3rd party games than 1st party Nintendo games, which I suppose is true for some people but not true for others.

You theory implies that people would buy Switches later after buying a "primary" console, which would imply that Switch sales would be more backloaded as people begin to buy Switches as a "secondary" console. So in other words, Switch will sell the same, but follow a more backloaded sales trajectory.

Guess we'll see who's correct based on whether Switch sales "fall off a cliff" once PS5/Xbox Scarlett are released.

@Zuljaras haha the one i game i absolutely suck at

@misterMike your mainly right but I did buy a switch just to play BOTW. And it was my first Nintendo console in twenty years 😁. It was the only game of any interest to me at launch even though I've a rather large library now.

@Tantani I bought 1 at launch, and 2 more for 2 of my 4 kids. Well over 100 games combined as well.

@westman98 but... then shouldn't that definition be the driving force for Nintendo's previous consoles??
Yet what we consistently saw with all of Nintendo's consoles is that even though 1st party drives hardware sales its the added third party that is the incentive. I know for a fact that if the switch only had 1st party, its sales wouldn't be where its at

@X-blades
Previous Nintendo consoles weren't hybrid consoles and first party games on those previous Nintendo consoles (outside of the Wii) weren't anywhere nearly as successful as first party games on the Switch.

The Switch already has five 10+ million sellers in ~2 years and looks to get three more this year with Pokemon Gen 8, Animal Crossing, and Mario Maker 2. The N64 has a single 10+ million seller, and the GCN/Wii U have none.

@misterMike
Yeah these hypothetical "what if" scenarios are always interesting but ultimately meaningless. Switch sales are what they are i.e. very very good

I find it odd that people are imagining this scenario where everyone who buys a console is a Very Serious Gamer™ with multiple consoles and a PC for Very Serious Gaming - when in reality a lot of people who buy a gaming device aren't.

There's millions of people who can't be bothered to sit on their arse and vegetate in front of a screen, who don't give a toss about power, frame rates, "real AAA games", how many nanometers the chipset is, they just want to play games. They want convenience. They don't want to sit around installing games and patches for hours. This is where the Switch is picking up customers.

I don’t think Switch is cannibalising PS4 and I don’t think PS4 is cannibalising Switch. Obviously people only have so much time and money. But in that sense, iPad and Netflix is as much competition as any console.

The impressive thing with Switch is that Nintendo is selling far more games than they were expecting. The engagement is seriously outpacing previous machines. And software sales is the real indicator of a platform’s success.

@bluemage1989 "Unless PS5 can offer something to set it apart from the PS4 other than slightly better graphics I can see the Switch remaining competitive for the next few four years."
That's the problem ps5 or new xbox x(what)? Aren't going to do much more than increasing the price you pay for them. And if they just upgrade simple hardware that is a whole lot of BS in the end. Better graphics doesn't make more sales. If they only go after hardcore gamers they missed the market in its entirety. I doubt they will want to put a Nvidia 2xxx GPU or AMD Rz Threadripper into a PS5 otherwise it would drive up the cost and loose sales.

@misterMike Nintendo revealed that over the last 9 months 20 Switch titles sold a million or more. 13 titles (including Octopath) were published by Nintendo in some way. While the other 7 were third party games (with Minecraft being the only that’s identity was revealed).
Source:
https://nintendosoup.com/20-switch-titles-sold-over-1-million-copies-in-the-last-9-months/

Those leaked Xbox One sales figures are awful. It's the 2nd worst-month of hardware sales ever for the XBO, only behind May 2014 when the XBO was still $500 and was about to receive a $100 price cut the month after.

The US accounts for 55-60% of total XBO sales, which means the XBO sold <200,000 units globally in January. That is well below what the Switch and PS4 sold in the US alone during that month.

The underwhelming critical reception toward Crackdown 3 and Anthem (which has Xbox partnership) can't be good either. 2019 will be a pretty rough year for Xbox TBH unless Gears 5 seriously overperforms.

@misterMike Mario+Rabbids was published by Ubisoft in most countries except in a few East Asian countries (including Japan)

@Heavyarms55

Always the same,and they totally ignore the fact you can pick up a Ps4 or Xbox One for very little money,and also that they have both 5 years worth of exposure to the marketplace.

The Switch is well on target to sell Ps4 numbers.

@SwitchForce,

Correct as both Sony and Microsoft's next consoles are entering the arena of diminishing returns power wise,well at least to the wider mass market,we do like to compare the Switch sales to the Ps4 and Xbox One,but in reality Nintendo's console is appealing on the whole to a different demographic.

Wow, there’s a surprising amount of sensitive, insecure PlayStation fans reading this Nintendo site.

great to hear nintendo is doing fine:)

i'm not realy a dedicated lover of one brand, but the switch is a great little wonder, their was not one moment i felt dissapointed about purchasing the nintendo switch.

no for the sales figures, we should stop comparing platforms, because the ps4 and xbox one are older systems.
the ps4 has maintained these figures for almost 4 years and is now declining, wich is normal.

just enjoy the switch and this moment that we have so many great games, its quit rare developers want to bring their games to the switch, that is something nintendo should be proud of and have to work on for future systems.

next time they should at least make it more powerfull so developers can make easier descisions, so we can also enjoy their lastest games.

@BAN,

What else do you expect from a small portion of the internet forum posting core minorities?.

@misterMike Yes. That's been the case forever. If you look at the Top Ten best-selling games on every single Nintendo console ever released, you have to go back to the SNES with Street Fighter II to find a third-party game in there.

Nintendo consoles appeal to a specific sort. If you're into shooters or online games, you're unlikely to place a Nintendo machine high on your purchasing list. Likewise, if you like more family-orientated, colourful stuff... platformers, adventure games, etc... then you're best off going for a Nintendo machine over the others.

Of course, there's a big healthy cross-over of both.

But this isn't about 'Nintendo games', but Nintendo-like games.

It's worth noting the sheer number of indie developers (who are, for the record, third-party developers), who are seeing more sales on Switch than any of the other platforms. Part of that is due to the quantity of content on the other devices, but it's also because indie games, quite often, are similar to Nintendo's own games. Titles like Yooka-Laylee and Shovel Knight and Stardew Valley. Very, very Nintendo-like content.

If third-party developers created content that specifically targeted Nintendo's audience, then you'll find they will sell very well. Just like EA found with MySims and their Active games. Just like Activision has found with Crash Bandicoot. Just like Warner Bros has found with LEGO.

But most of their money goes into their big shooters and sports games. And that's not the typical 'Nintendo audience'. So they just don't do as well.

@PALversusNTSC Five years now.

@johnvboy "but in reality Nintendo's console is appealing on the whole to a different demographic."
That is the reason why ps and xbox are losing out. Failure to figure the Switch is for everyone and trying to pigeon hole the Switch is the reason they are helping the Switch gain traction.

PS4 and Xbox One are not losing out.

Well, Xbox has been for a while. But that segment is doing very well.

@misterMike No I am saying that Ubisoft PUBLISHED the game, which is true just take a look at the listing on the EShop or even just Wikipedia. Both of them list Ubisoft as the publisher.

@misterMike "don't see what is ps losing, it never stood better except maybe in ps2 era, but just maybe. With your username it's expected to see such objective comments"
Their lost was all created by Sony - Nintendo had nothing to do with their dismal performance to garner gamers of different Gender and age when they can get a system that can go portable and or played Docked. 4K isn't what will sell games is what I've been saying, it only goes so far.