Japanese Charts: Nintendo Switch Is Already On The Verge Of Surpassing PS4's Lifetime Sales

Oh wow Just wow..

Wow...the Switch is a beast...

Impressive. Most impressive.

Go Go switch!

This is such an exciting time. Switch keeps getting more games, with a nice mix of old and new! I need a clone so I can play more games!

I think it's cause of the DLC coming out..

Switch's sales numbers have been impressive, although this is apples to oranges.

This is insane.
I guess this means we'll see even more jrpgs and other visual novels on switch in the next few years.

I expected the Switch to outsell the PS4 in Japan, but not this quickly.

@Wanjia Japanese culture has become increasingly hostile to traditional at-home console gaming, so it's honestly not a surprise. The Switch is the only portable system on the market that's really being supported with new releases. It'd be surprising if it didn't own Japan.

@EvrgrnCmln @Wanjia Yeah, Japan loves their portables. It's also why the mobile market there is massive.

@Kalmaro @Wanjia @EvrgrnCmln Also Japan has the oldest game's in store..

My local cex is full of copies of days gone guess it’s a good seller but people just don’t seem to be holding onto it

According to these charts. I bet it has already done so on Media Create.

It’s undeniable the switch is the best!!!

Japan sure doesn't like Xbone.

@CrazyZelda79 Not with the current rate they're producing software.

If only someone could come through and take a massive dump on this performance...hmmm...

That's pretty amazing. Handhelds are insanely popular in Japan, aren't they? Also, isn't the Vita still going strong over there?

this chart gave me another reason to pick dragon dogma

I think that we can probably say that as of May 1, the Switch has caught up to the PS4 in sales in Japan. Every week from now until the introduction of the PS5 will see that lead grow. Nintendo is predicting 18 million Switch unit sales for the year ending March 31 2020. I think that if we at least get the $199 Switch mini by this summer or Fall, then they will sell way more than 18 million units this year.

I'm surprised we're not seeing stronger third party support from big devs at this point. I know it takes time to develop, but the rate the Switch is selling, I'm surprised we haven't seen more "enhanced ports" of PS3/360 gen games at the very least.

maybe cause the Switch has actual games that aren't on PC or any other console, and the fact it's portable system

Nintendo has hit a gold mine with the switch, and at this point, I'm pretty sure it's endless.

Japanese gamers have a much more better taste in game consoles than UK gamers! Go Switch!

@MysticGengar I predicted the Switch when Nintendo merged their handheld and console research and development houses into one back in 2013. It only made sense as the next step from Wii U.

@Jokerwolf Thank you for your awesome mental powers, Joker Jesus.

@Gs69 a quick look online shows around 10 stores in my local area that only have 1 or 2 at best, generally the fan response has been very good for this game.

As for the Switch it has had a great start but let's not get too excited as the Japanese market is rather unique and everywhere else the PS4 is a long way ahead, it may catch up over time just not for quite a few years

@Jokerwolf Oh wow, you predicted the Switch when they all but spelled it out for us?!!

Nintendo was smart to make this a portable hybrid because it encourages households to buy multiple units for people to personalize and take with them. Dad doesnt want to share his Switch with little Timmy who takes his to school every day. Its genius really

When Nintendo get it wrong they get it wrong (Wii U) in style but when they get it right they get it absolutely spot on and then some!!!

Days Gone had an amazing debut. Surprised that it did absolutely nothing to boost PS4 hardware or other PS4 software sales.

Golden week should see some really strong percentage increases for Nintendo sotware.

@hihelloitsme
Why is this apples to oranges?

Yeah, but we still need to test the waters.😑

Ten times more Vitas sold than Xbox one! Haha blimey.

@Edu23XWiiU You are welcome! I basically though it was going to be a Wii U but portable, though I definitely thought it would be in like 2019 when they released it.

This is what Media Create was trying to hide.

I saw the title and was very confused (thought they meant worldwide sales) but then I read further and I am still kind of shocked. Thats crazy!

The Japanese market alone is the reason handhelds will never die

Wow every PS4 title disappeared from the top 10 except the new one.

Man all the great games you can get on PS4 and that garbage is number one. I know it's new but has anyone been watching the lets plays? Horrible quality for a Sony Exclusive.

3rd party Old ports declining returns is breathtaking.

PS4 7million base
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (2017) – 100,764 /NEW

Switch 8million base
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (2019) 20.366 / NEW

More people in Japan rather play a "meh" western "New" game at home... than another 3rd party port at home and on the GO. Zodiac age, Dragon Dogma and SAO combined are not even half the sales of 72 Metacritic Days Gone.

^^^^ That's more like it. Bingo!

@Agramonte What exactly do you have against Final Fantasy 12 making £700,000 in a week, in Japan alone? I would say that is a VERY good return on a 'old rehash port'. Or maybe you want the moon on a stick.

@GrailUK That's his schtick, that's what he does. I knew what he was going to say and he didn't let me down.

@WiltonRoots It's a weird stance to take isn't it. Everyone is doing great in the industry. Why find fault with folk. Long my this continue.

@GrailUK And that is a valid point to say on your comment.

I am using the numbers to show how most players can start to care less about 3rd party old ports when released again and again (regardless if "NEW" to another hardware)

£700,000 in a week and not £3,600,000 (on an extra million install) makes that point also.

@Agramonte Ah. I think I mis-understood. I thought you were putting forward a case that it wasn't worth bothering with. If you are simply pointing out that a re-release is going to do less numbers than it's original launch then...ye, that makes sense. But better to have your games on all consoles than just the one. So no harm no foul Square made some easy money.

Gosh those XBOX numbers are grim. I often wonder who are these Japanese people that are buying Microsoft consoles. I'd love to know what their motivations are. 😂

@GrailUK Oh, No - Just people should not act surprised when someone says they do not want to play a game again.

Also SE makes port but they also commit on giving the Switch big new games for everyone else looking for something new to play. They make both camps happy, so cant blame them for making a few extra till the big one hits.

This is a sign right now to all Japanese devs. If you are not supporting the Switch you need to get on that because the sales potential are just insane. Your games should be on there because this system is going to be if it has not a pop-culture phenomenon and you need to get on that. I'm mainly looking at Square Enix and Sega/Atlus on this because if you have an RPG and its not on this system you will soon be losing on potential sales in Japan.

@The_Mysteron Its mostly foreigners who moved there for work who want to play with their friends back home. That or the rare Japanese fan of Microsoft's 1st party games.

@onlyonemello
“But you are not a Jedi yet..”

@The_Mysteron I'd like to think it's a small selection of Japanese gamers with bit of a rebellious streak who see a quality platform and are sick of Sony increasingly abandoning the Homeland.

In reality is probably a bunch of GIs in Okinawa.

I figured something was coming since the 3DS platform has such broad appeal and being small a portable helped contribute to the forth coming Switch itself. I think Nintendo saw the writing on the wall that a powerful handheld gaming unit was going to attract more gamer then other gave credit for it. You don't have to say it overtakes ps4 but considering is was only released in March 2017 and now it is May 2019 and in such short time surpasses all gaming expectation beyond the investors was a boon to Indie and Brand name developers to get their games into the wild and go portable helped make sales go wild. To Nintendo the more games you get on the Portable the more exposures and sales come along with it. And this is what the Developers are starting to see now some sooner then other.

Sorry to burst your bubble a but please remember most Japanese also play the Switch as a handheld. So you should be expecting DS+Wii numbers for Japanese sales. Yes I really mean the collective number of DS+Wii (or 3DS+WiiU) to compare to just the Switch, as technically has a much larger consumer base, bought by both handheld and home console users.

@ProfessorNess
No, the Switch will not sell 55 million units in Japan, and nobody expects it to.

Mobile gaming has changed the game. No gaming platform will pull off NDS numbers ever again, let alone something truly ludicrous like NDS + Wii numbers.

@EvrgrnCmln It's not hostile toward console gaming at all. But the Japanese lifestyle involves a lot of commuting and travel. Mobile devices in general are more sought after here.

@The_Mysteron They are foreigners living in Japan. And hardcore collectors.

@ProfessorNess not even Sony expects ds+wii numbers. No company will ever see such numbers. That was a unique time period before smartphone games existed. There's lot more competition with lower prices now. And that's before stadia and xcloud.

Already as in, we're looking at over 2 years now, and it still hasn't happened. I remember when people were claiming it would only take 1 year, then 1 more year... I'm certain it will happen, and I think it'd be crazy to think otherwise, but... it's a system with handheld appeal in a market that values that tremendously, over a traditional home console.

Good for Nintendo though. No doubt.

@MrBlacky because you can't take a PS4 out of your house and play it in your lap with its own built in screen and zero cords. It's not portable. Why am I having to explain this?

@greengecko007 oh, please believe the Switch momentum has slowed down. That's why two new iterations are on the horizon.

@electrolite77 wait what? You think Nintendo isn't expecting Wii+DS sales? How do you explain their forecasts and projections? (I'm referring to global sales here)

Yes rest of the top ten is all Switch, but PS4 title Days Gone sold as much as all the rest of top 10 games combined

Also PS4 failed in Japan but was a huge success in US and UK. When Switch surpass lifetime sales of PS4 on US then we can talk about Switch dominance

Good. I don't see the Switch is all about dominance. It's all about how much of players want to play on the go. Some even have multiple consoles at home too.

@The_Mysteron

MAC users that want to run Doom.

@hihelloitsme,

Of course it;s apples and oranges,unless of course it's the Wii U's figures v's the Ps4's,then it's exactly the same thing.

@dimi,

The article is not about a consoles dominance,it's simply informing us that the Switch is getting very close to the Ps4's sales figures in Japan.

The Ps4 has been a success for Sony but by the same token Microsoft have struggled this generation,rewind to the previous generation and it was pretty much level...there is nothing to say that Microsoft will make gains in the next generation,gamers are so fickle in that market.

@ClassSonicSatAm Yet half of the Switch games in the top 10 are on other consoles or PC and came out on them years ago, in some cases about 15 years ago. And then add 2 more games that are "enhanced ports" of last gen Nintendo games.

If anything days gone sales are disappointing. Big 1st party title, 100k at launch, no impact on hardware.

Switch has outsold PS4, but more importantly look at the charts. Not just the number of switch releases, but titles that typically live on PlayStation alone.

I can't see the PS5 ever outselling the PS4, from what I've seen ... I'm not sure what Sony have planned apart from rinse and repeat.

Nintendo need to work out how to iterate the switch every 2 years, increasing the specs but keeping software as backwards compatible as possible...

Cue the OH NO NO NO NO

@electrolite77 why didn't anybody understand what I meant was that you should expect the sales result of a handheld + a home console, and that Wii+DS was just used as an analogy, and I even threw in WiiU+3DS to made it clearer...

What I meant is that such huge numbers should not be unexpected given that you are combining the sales figures of what should have been 2 individual items; a handheld and a home console

Nintendo Power right there folks

@Cathousemaster If Sony carry on down their path of same pad, more power, black slab in the home tailored to the west, they're going to do worse in their home country than the PS4.

83 Xbox consoles sold. Must ramp up production

Amazing figures but still prefer my n3ds, N64 and SNES to my switch

@Jokerwolf Man, it was obvious they were going on that direction, when they merged both departments.

@Edu23XWiiU Not 100% obvious, Japanese companies tend do cut costs with stuff like this all the time. I also predicted scroll TV's that you can roll up and put in a tube for carrying 12 years ago and they are finally being developed.

Wow just wow! Didn't expect this 😱😂👍
And so fast.
The switch is a hot item.

I wonder why so popular in Japan. Do they have more or better games than we do?

I read these articles on a daily basis about switch sales and momentum but I'm not seeing why. I bought one and I'm struggling to find any games that are of quality and priced accordingly.

Portability isn't a selling feature of the software. So what games are people playing that they needed one so bad?

• Ok so Zelda and Mario in 2017/8 Check.
• A handful of wiiU asset flips. Check.
• Square soft peddling final fantasy nostalgia at full price. Check
• Enough no name shovelware to fill a landfill. Check
• a bunch of afterthought games that have already been played on better hardware for less money up to 10+ years ago. Check

It's amazing how much spin they must pay for. The shill media army that helps perpetuate this rhetoric must not be cheap. Even though Nintendo has a million strikes against them that other companies would burn for.....their shills keep pumping out positive reviews and articles.

The funniest part of watching consoles evolve over 40 years is the ridiculous amount of brand loyalty from people. None of these companies are your friend. They'd steal candy from a baby if they could and have their army of shill partners spin it into a positive.

Still waiting for this amazing library I keep hearing about on a daily basis.
What's Nintendo done since 2017? A smash bros game with non functional online and yoshi game with difficulty for toddlers at full msrp.
Oh sorry and a bunch of cardboard.

Give it a rest with the praise already.
Did it ever occur to anyone that the switch is the only modern handheld and that's why it's selling so well in Japan?

@electrolite77
The Switch has a very strong shot at outselling the 3DS and Wii U combined in terms of hardware sales.

Switch software sales are already well above 3DS + Wii U software sales. It's actually not even close.

@Itzdmo seriously man just walk away from anything Nintendo. I didn’t even read your last diatribe but you’re getting far too worked up.

@electrolite77 Back in the home computer days a friend of mine bought an Amiga, got it home, tried it out and realised he didn't like it. What did he do? Did he spend his time making veins pop out in his forehead going nuts for months on end? Nah. He took it back to the shop the next day, said it's not for me, and bought a Megadrive with his refund. And he was as happy as Larry.

@electrolite77 Yep for me the N64 was that console, granted the internet wasn't as widespread back then, but did I rage? Nah, I gave it a go for a few months, decided it wasn't for me and it went into a storage box.

But the PS4 is a home console, not a handheld. Nintendo has pulled out of home consoles, the Switch caters for gamers who enjoy playing games at home and on the go. And people forget that all those years ago, the PSP could be connected to a TV, so the Switch is nothing new. Totally pointless comparing handhelds to home consoles. Nintendo claim that the Switch hasn't replaced the 3DS, that it's replaced the Wii U. The Switch has replaced both the 3DS and Wii U. But we all knew the Switch tech can only go so far. And evidence proves that the Switch has been hammered with indie games. Take away indie games, Wii U ports and a handful of games that we've seen on PS and Xbox consoles, there's very little to choose from. The Switch is selling well, but it'll never hit high sales. Once PS4 and Xbox Two surface, Nintendo will need to start again. But as ever, having the tech has never been Nintendo's priority.

@Jokerwolf They didn't costs by merging the two departments. You must be the new Nostradamus. I always thought that they would do a console that has it's own screen, but that doesn't mean I PREDICTED either the Wii U or the Switch.

@Edu23XWiiU To each their own.

@Jokerwolf Yes, Jesus Joker Nostradamus

I guess this is why XBOX is teaming up with Nintendo