Nintendo Switch Has Now Outsold The Mighty PlayStation 3 In Japan

Dooooooommmmmed!
That's all I wanted to type NL.

Now to overtake the PS4!

Buy its a hybrid it's mostly, portable so it doesn't count !!
Nintendo is still doomed !

etc etc etc

@Kalmaro Didnt it do that already?

The switch is so good it already outsold the PS5

Quite impressive in less than 3 years!

@KitsuneNight It's a home console too so yes it does count.

What it means is that this hybrid idea was a very clever one to boost up the home console market there.

@smashboy2000 It was sarcasm.

@Kalmaro It already has, news story from earlier had the data..

Nintendo Switch: 9,729,199
PlayStation 4: 7,180,607
PlayStation 4 Pro: 1,326,357

@smashboy2000
That was the joke.

I dunno. I just bought a Switch and the TV screen goes black in docked mode, while my fat PS3 is still going strong after 10+ years. I'm surprised, as we haven't had a hardware issue with Nintendo before, after many console purchases.

Oh the humanity...

It wasn't popular in Japan. 10 million consoles is not a lot.

@Ichiyama I'm scared to use my Fat for more than an hour as it gets so hot it almost glows.

Not bad, though PS3 did have a sluggish start before pulling ahead. I think my old Fat unit needs a new ribbon cable, I got the bits, but with a slim unit too I haven't felt inclined to attempt the surgery.

@SuperJoeUK @AnnoyingFrenzy Huh, I must have forgotten already. That's still awesome though.

@Savino it’s got a ways to go to catch PS2. I think it has over 23 million in lifetime sales in Japan.

@YANDMAN Bummer. I must have lucked out, as they are a bit prone to that, at least the in first run. But I did get a slim as a backup and a second, used slim as a backup backup.

@Ichiyama Never had my TV go black with my Switch in docked mode. Might want to check things out (connections, equipment, etc.) and make sure there isn't anything wrong.

PlayStation 3, PlayStation 3, the switch is too much for thee!

If the first PS3 models had been designed better, the backwards compatible models would be my favorite console of all time. Online was free, access to entertainment apps, the controller was a step up from the PS2, full hardware compatibility with both previous PlayStation generations, and the new games on the system were excellent as well.

Why do you guys care so much about how many consoles and games Nintendo sells?

Is it a validation thing?

I have so much fun with Nintendo Switch.
Congratulations !
But now.... I secretly have started to reconsider PS3 again after 4 years ago i have departed with PS3. 🤫

@Crono1973 because the Wii U sold like a stale canned fart and for Nintendo’s business continuity it needs to sell well, two failed “home” game consoles in a row would spell doom for them. So yes, it is a validation thing, market validation.

Not to mention all the game devs ignoring it because of it being “underpowered”. With it outselling “powerful” systems game devs can’t rationally ignore it

@YANDMAN Considering only 12 of 40 listed below made it above 10mil units sold, yes it is a lot. We’re taking about 1 country here, not worldwide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles_by_region

@Crono1973 Basically.

@Crono1973 I think some people are just interested in the sales numbers and economic impact for their own sake, myself included. I love hearing the numbers and always greatly anticipate end-of-quarter and end-of-year financial reports throughout the industry.

@Quantaur Thanks. I went right to the heart and just swapped it out a half hour ago. The replacement seems to be working, but I have to give it a stress test with some Mario Odyssey after it charges.

Nice to have the week off.

PS3 $599 at launch.

Who's ready to pay that again with PS5 and Xbox Scarlett?

@personauser93 I agree, except how was the controller a step up when it was literally the PS2 controller in design with removed rumble and the barely-used-well six axis? Not saying your wrong as it's an opinion, but I'd like to hear your reasoning.

@Magician Not me. I have the nasty habit of not buying consoles until they drop below $250.

@YANDMAN I always assumed from the temp and orange glow it was powered by vacuum tubes inside.

@Magician At least XBox includes a free Porche. Or that's what the marketing leads me to believe.

@tekknik because the Wii U sold like a stale canned fart and for Nintendo’s business continuity it needs to sell well, two failed “home” game consoles in a row would spell doom for them. So yes, it is a validation thing, market validation.

That doesn't explain consumers caring about sales numbers prior to the Wii U. It is a validation thing, not market validation but rather personal validation on your purchase of <XXX>.

Wow and those ps3s and ps2 went bad and had slim versions for people to buy.

@Crono1973
This site's been reporting on sales number since the beginning:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2006/11/wii_success
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2007/07/wii_could_outsell_ps2
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2007/09/wii_top_selling_next_gen_console
Here's a few once this site started becoming more popular:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2009/05/they_sold_a_million_nintendos_biggest_titles_revealed
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2009/12/wii_becomes_fastest_selling_console_in_uk_history
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2010/01/wii_software_sales_outmuscle_xbox_360

There's plenty of people who cared about sales figures even before the Wii U (and the 3DS)

If it wasn't for the Nintendo NES in the 80's everyone would be playing the Atari 2600. Think about that Nintendo brought back the gaming console PS didn't even exist at that time.

@electrolite77 "Sales drive what software a system gets. I’ve been gaming for over 30 years and have always been interested because a)I find the industry really interesting and b)The direct correlation between sales and quality/size of software library"

This is true don't think I been 30 years but I was around when Nintendo NES came out and was playing Intellvision, Commodore, Atari and probably some others I forgot. You do have to wonder what would the Gaming Consoles scene would be like if Nintendo hadn't brought out the NES to challenge the USA consoles at the early stage - would we be still playing Atari 2600? They took alot of Risk to do this as this was a totally different type of Console and graphics was different as well.

Considering the PS3 had so many damn models (and some which are only Japanese exclusives), it's quite surprising that it only takes 2 Switches to beat it and in less than 3 years time too.

the PS4 is kind of a hybrid when combined with the PS vita, but that's only 2 compared to the switches 3 modes, with the price of 1 console for the switch, so I can't see why the PS4 is selling smoothly. And I didn't bring up the switch's game library.

@SwitchForce Atari basically killed their own company, they had a chance to work with Nintendo on the NES and screw it up. They also had a chance to partner with Sega to make the Jaguar the dominant platform to whoop the Super NES and N64 out of the market but screw that up too.

@retro_player_22 Nintendo also ditched Sony, which was a stupid choice.

@badboy9 Yeah but that decision didn't killed Nintendo though, they still manage to come in second that generation. Atari on the otherhand never redeem themselves, they aren't able to make games that would sell their systems and they kept passing up on opportunity which could had benefit them if they actually go through with it. Nintendo partnering with Sony is a risky move anyways and the fact that Sony had more rights to the use of the disc format eventually made Nintendo backed out of the deal.

The differences between Nintendo's decision and Atari's decision is that Nintendo was in a good position at the time, even if they screw up the N64 and GameCube gen they could still redeem themselves as their handheld division got their back, Atari though was in a bad position at the time, passing up on opportunity which could had save them eventually led to their downfall.

@Kalmaro I outsold the PS4 a long time ago in Japan. It's now ~2 million units above the PS4 life-to-date

@retro_player_22 who can forget the E.T. incident though?

@Kenology That's really impressive! For some reason I thought the PS4 sold more. Not sure why.

@SwitchForce You think that without Nintendo that no one would have made any consoles beyond the Atari 2600?

@Crono1973 absolutely not. personal validation of the purchase comes from using and enjoying the device. not a single person here cares what others think of their purchase, if we did don’t you think we would’ve bailed out when game devs started with the “underpowered” crap?

it’s interesting that you think this though, it suggests that this is what you care about, and only purchase systems based on acceptance of the market. further the news of a nintendo product outselling a sony product upset you enough to speak out about it here, which suggests fanboyism since no rational person should react negatively to this kind of news unless they have some money at stake.

@tekknik I think this because people have been so fanatical about the Switch since it was announced. Personally I find that I rarely use my Switch because the ports are often inferior. I still play my 3DS so power isn't the issue for me, it's the games but when the games have a superior port elsewhere (and often for cheaper) then...

Truthfully, I don't know what's going to happen next year when the new consoles come out. Switch may be getting downgraded version of current gen games but it probably won't be getting PS5/Nextbox ports because they gap would be too big.

As for the first party titles on the Switch, they haven't been the best. I didn't want an open world Zelda and I didn't care for it, Super Mario Odyssey just didn't do it for me (I still play Mario 64), Mario Party and Pokemon weren't great.

I would say that calling me a Sony fanboy because I don't care about sales numbers is kind of ridiculous. I never mentioned Sony and I don't really prefer Sony over Microsoft or Nintendo. They all have their pro's and cons. Sony has the best game library this gen, Microsoft has the best subscription service and Nintendo has a hybrid that would be great if it had as good a library as the 3DS does (maybe one day it will).

Was it really mighty though?

@SwitchForce

In the USA maybe, in Europe gaming was in rude health, with home computers.

The crash was localized, it was confined to the USA only.
That's something a lot of people tend to forget.

@NEStalgia Ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it certainly saves me putting the heating on.

@tekknik these are just numbers, numbers written on a digital chalk board. i was on the ground. I saw what was happening.

@KitsuneNight Gaming was all over if you failed in USA then don't expect any better world wide. What happens in USA will bring everyone along. So, that's was something a lot also forgets. PC gaming was in the early stages at that time and was pixelated gaming or therefore lack of. During that time most considered it a Business computer and that was why it lacked any real game software development. And People at that time consider game limited to Consoles. As to Atari killing themselves is what happens when you failed to be a innovation that would expand your gaming audience to expand your market shares.

@AnnoyingFrenzy

At a guess because it was wireless, bluetooth, with decent battery life.

@SwitchForce

No, No, I said home computer.
IE MSX, c64 , Spectrum, MSX2, CPC, Amiga, Atari ST and so on.
They were a different breed compared to PC gaming.

And those machines were doing quite well in Europe.
While the Famicom and Sega's offerings were thriving in Japan

Don't forget that the Famicom was released in 1983, in japan.
It was already around, it would have been released in the west sooner or later.

@tekknik "it’s interesting that you think this though, it suggests that this is what you care about, and only purchase systems based on acceptance of the market. further the news of a nintendo product outselling a sony product upset you enough to speak out about it here, which suggests fanboyism since no rational person should react negatively to this kind of news unless they have some money at stake."

Couldn't agree more if a "underpowered" Switch can outsell PS and get a rise that means they are doing a far better then the naysayers whom try to down play the Rise of Switch. As to the Media usage this has been a failure. There is the storage and breakage problem of media and then you can't backup those media storage after you purchase them. We should remember those PS games copy software came as result of Sony underhanded actions on this aka "DRM". Why make it harder for legit owners to backup their game. Cart can also break but they can be easier to store and more portable. That is why Nintendo went back to carts. This also helps their IP and carts can range in size and sure higher the capacity the more expensive but then it comes down in price. Also this help the Switch since it's portable using a optical on portable device will skip/jump/fail since it's a moving mechanism and such hardware is prone problems regardless unless it on a table and not actual hardware moving around aka CD/DVD/BD car audio. I still have and use this hardware and permits me freedom from Streaming services one has to pay to use it.

@KitsuneNight "No, No, I said home computer.
IE MSX, c64 , Spectrum, MSX2, CPC, Amiga, Atari ST and so on.
They were a different breed compared to PC gaming."

During those beginning times PC computer wasn't consider a gaming system. All those others listed consoles some died on their own lack of forethought and innovations. Amiga - I have one, the leadership was bonehead and moved to a Bermuda location rather then focus where it was in the USA to expand it's market share was not the Amiga doing but it's STUPID Leadership that lead it's downfall. The Amiga was a Gaming system dream but they failed that spectacularly - it also had "Windows" UI a first but they missed this opportunity.

@Ichiyama That's good to hear! I've been playing Witcher 3 docked on mine for hours on end and haven't run into any issues, so hopefully what you did fixed it.

@KitsuneNight I didn't get it. For me, you sounded like an old man yelling at clouds

@SwitchForce The Switch isn't outselling PS. It's selling more now, but that's because it's new.

PSP used optical media just fine.

PS4 installs games because a disc can't read them fast enough. Xbox does this too. Games are getting bigger and bigger. Next gen will use solid state to have even bigger games.

Nintendo went with solid state media this time because that's what they've always used in their handhelds. The games are basically proprietary SD cards.