Switch Shifted 1.5 Million Units In The UK Last Year, Matching Xbox And PlayStation Sales Combined

Heck yea keep it up Nintendo

I mean... Sony and MS were winding down in the run up to next gen. It’s kind of like a 30yr old man beating an 80yr old man in a race and then gloating about it.

Nintendoomed 🤣

Let's hope Nintendo doesn't get complacent with these kind of silly stats.

@Guitario i love how people were unironically saying this back in 2016

@Ajent

A more relevant perspective: the Wii U didn't come close to a million total in the UK during its lifetime. It is a stunning turn-around for Nintendo

Also last year was great for all consoles and the PS4 and Xbox saw a boost in sales due to the pandemic too, and when you factor in console launches have higher than normal sales, then Switch beating all those combined is still very impressive.

@Ajent obviously, but I'm pretty sure these comparisons stem from the equally inevitable trend in spec discussions where it's Switch that's painted as the 80 year old man of the metaphorical two.😏

It bears connecting one's palm with one's face when even NL recurrently discusses Switch in opposition to "next-gen consoles" (like earlier today in the umpteenth Super Switch Pro 64 Advance article). Sure, why don't we call Nintendo DS a "Gen 5 console" while we're at it?

@Ajent those next gen consoles are great for playing old gen games.

omg Nintendo should just be 3rd party to MS and Sony! 🤣

@HamatoYoshi don't lump PS5 in there - just like Switch, you can play it anytime and anywhere! ...Don't you guys have phones?

@Ajent but it also was the release of two new systems. You’d expect those figures together to easily beat the sales of Switch alone.

@RickD PS5 games. ?

@Friendly that's where the stock shortage argument usually comes in.

EDIT: okay, that's enough disjointed comments for one article on my part.😅

@nhSnork true. But still. Beating two new systems and two older systems combined and thus two companies is quite a shocker to me.

Nintendo life: Switch Shifted 1.5 Million Units In The UK Last Year, Matching Xbox And PlayStation Sales Combined
A truly dominant year for Nintendo also them: push square and pure Xbox.

@justpizza all jokes aside, hooray for Nintendo

@HamatoYoshi agreed, PS is great for playing PS4 games. Not really sure what your point is, but I agree. (Be careful, if I think your point is that new consoles should be mocked for having a lot of ports or last gen remasters - I’ll just point out that your on a Nintendo website and the latest Nintendo console is the Switch, y’know with games like BotW, MK8, 3D All-Stars... etc).

@Friendly not really. They were sold out and due to COVID couldn’t make enough.

@nhSnork as PlayStation fans will no doubt tell you...... PS5 is the perfect handheld!

For clarity... since there’s a fair few fanboys I here, I love my Switch. Great console. I’m just pointing out that comparing mid life-cycle sales of a product to end life-cycle sales of a comparable product, it’s an apples to oranges comparison.

@Ajent yeah, you’re right. It’s not an achievement for Nintendo at all to sell 1,5 million systems during a pandemic. Up from a million the year before. Any company could have done that.

Oh wait.

Edit: to clarify, I’m comparing Nintendo performance to previous years in the UK, since UK usually is Playstation territory. Yes, it’s a midway cycle of a system. But you’d expect Sony to plan out their release for years in this region too. And still Nintendo sold more, even when including three more systems. That’s a big, big feat. Not apples and oranges in my opinion.

@Ajent my point was there’s next to no software for the PS5. It’s an expensive way to play PS4 games!

As a long time Nintendo fan in the UK, this makes a change. The days of me struggling to find the shelf of Wii U games is finally over...for a bit anyway

It's always funny to me that we want "our favorite brand to win" and then we concede when they do that "now that they're winning they don't actually need to try or offer anything compelling at all." Are we actively rooting against ourselves most of the time?

And PS & XB weren't helped, as others have said, but the fact that their premium skus were entirely out of production permanently when the pandemic hit, and were winding down supply on the base models already while they ramped up the new models. Couldn't have hit at a worse time for the other companies as they'd already killed their factory contracts before they found out they needed a sudden surge of product they had no ability to produce to meet anymore. Nintendo got the lions share of that, for sure.

@HamatoYoshi LOL....even as a PS5 owner, I really have to agree with that. I've mostly played BC or enhanced PS5 versions of PS4 games (Miles, Sackboy, patched games etc) Ratchet next and then....??? Back to the backlog.

Same for XSX, but, enhancing old games is half of that platform's identity so that's less of a problematic situation.

Ahh, so cute watching you all feed the troll...

@HamatoYoshi

The Switch was in the exact same boat at launch and also didn't have the luxury of backwards compatability (you have to pay full price for its older games in fact).

Let's not forget that fact.

@TheFullAndy started with Breath of the Wild though. And Snipperclips. Still two of the best games available .

@TheFullAndy This. Very much this. Not to mention I am not sure why another console doing this business of porting/remastering last gen titles suddenly makes another one doing it okay. Heck, at least with Xbox and Playstation, most developers are actually releasing patches for previous games or if they do relaunch them, are giving free upgrades to owners of the previous generation, hence not charging full price for a port (though there are talks of Death Stranding getting re-released without free upgrade which just seems stupid to me, game is barely 2 years old).

It honestly feels like people are accepting paying more for less. The more people do this, the worse it is going to get, regardless of the platform this happens on.

@Friendly

Of course! But people seem to have forgotten the Switch was widley mocked for its lack of launch games back in the day, thankfully one of those launch games happened to be one of the best ever: FAST RMX!

@TheFullAndy 1-2 Switch!

@Friendly

People slag 1-2 Switch off but I brought it round to my mates on launch day and we had a blast!

@MS7000

It will be less of a problem going forward, I think all future consoles from the big three will be backwards compatible from now on especially as the digital purchases becomes more and more important.

But there will still be old games from their catalogues that will get the full remaster like Link's Awakening, like Demon's Souls etc.

@Friendly it very much is apples to oranges. It’s almost definition of apples and oranges.

However, we do agree that it is an achievement. However, the sales are an achievement because of the numbers. Not because it BEAT another product. That’s fanboy crap.

Celebrating an accomplishment can be done by simply celebrating it. No need for the pettiness.

@HamatoYoshi duuuuude... you are making THAT point. On a Nintendo website. That’s brave.

@Ajent With regards to you mentioning that you cannot compare these as like for like, why not? the stat is 'what they sold against what they sold' and clearly the switch won that.

@Ajent then we disagree on the apples and oranges part. There’s only a limited amount of money for every consumer. Nintendo and the other systems are direct competitors for money and time. Apparantly the switch is somehow that attractive to consumers, even ones who are in other eco-systems, they want to buy that system instead of the PS4 (taking PS5 out of the equation due to stock limitations).

But let’s have it your way and compare apples to the same apples. Let’s compare the sales of the switch to the 4th year of sales of the PS4. The PS4 sold 941,545 systems in its fourth year. Sales never actually reached 1,3 million per year. Nintendo absolutely crushing that number in the homeland of the Playstation (where people already are ‘locked into’ that eco-system), THAT’s massively impressive.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/281860/sales-of-the-playstation-3-gaming-devices-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

@TheFullAndy I certainly hope so. The odd remaster such as Link's Awakening and Demon's Souls makes sense because of how old the games are, not to mention, far more effort has been put into them than a simple upres and widescreen like Mario 3D All-Stars.

I am just irked at the amount of ports which seem extremely low effort in comparison and kind of pointless as the game is still widely accessible. Especially since we seem to have more ports than new games nowadays.

@TheFullAndy I know! Best game to decide who has to do the dishes that night.

Until smash came out that is. I’ve never done dishes after that.

What, no mention of Brexit in a UK article? Is that even allowed?

Those numbers seem so low looking at them from the US, but I know how population works, it just takes time for the math to kick in. 🤔

@MS7000

The ports from Wii U will dry up, the main ones have now pretty much made the move. It does suck for Wii U owners but unfortunately we are paying the price (literally at times) of that system being such a failure but I think, and clearly Nintendo thinks, its library of games were too good to be left behind on it.

We can all discuss/argue til we are blue in the face about whether they should charge full price or not for those games but the bottom line is Nintendo does and they are selling in the millions so it won't change.

An example, I think Skyward Sword full price is a bit of a cheek but I will also buy it as the original does not look great on my TV and 60fps is really cool. Also full portability which is a real bonus.

Switch has also had in its first 4 years a first party line up that rivals that of PS4 in its first 4 years and laughs at the paltry output from Xbox One in the same timeframe so new games have been coming too.

The Switch was generally out of stock for at least 6 of the 12 months in 2020 in the UK, just sporadic deliveries. I'm pretty sure CEX have been selling used consoles above RRP for much of the year.

Between late December and early February they were nearly impossible to get hold of, stock came back for a while, then lockdown happened and they went back to being massively in demand and that never really let up much through till Christmas.

@Ajent you do know the switch outsold xbox one total sales before the wind down right?lol

Even in a country being destroyed from brexit nintendo is winning gen 9. Gg sony.

@Darkyoshi98 yes. Lol.

?

@Friendly well done.

@dew12333 because the XB1 and PS4 were being phased out.

Therefore, if you want an Xbox do you buy the one that is about to be replaced, or do you wait and buy the replacement (that is being released within the 12 month period that we’re comparing) and then find out that you can’t because they all sold out and then end up not making a purchase altogether?

Hence the apples and oranges.

Again... don’t get me wrong, Switch sales are amazing and it is genuinely an achievement. It’s just not one that is ‘in spite’ of Sony and MS. COVID has messed so many things up that these comparisons are so skewed that they aren’t relevant.

@TheFullAndy It's not just the Wii U ports though, Nintendo have shown that 3DS games are easy pickings too with Miitopia. Do we have to wait until they port the entire 3DS library too?

I saw a video come through recently by Jon about 10 3DS games that would be better on Switch. Whilst there are one or two games that I sort of agree would probably be better (Kid Icarus Uprising due to the dodgy controls), I am so sick of ports that I couldn't help but just sigh in exasperation at this point. It is irksome that this generation just seems to be a repeat of the last one. Sure, Nintendo has the odd new game here and there, but it honestly feels inferior to the libraries of the previous console.

@Ajent "However, the sales are an achievement because of the numbers. Not because it BEAT another product. That’s fanboy crap"

Meh, I'll always prefer to see a proper games company like Nintendo leading, especially after what happened to SEGA.

@Ajent did you just agree with me?

Did someone just agree with me in a comment section?

Pinch me!

@MS7000

I am sure there are lists somewhere but I think the output of new first/second party games on Switch isn't too far behind that of previous Nintendo consoles at this stage of its life.

This is also the legacy of Nintendo consoles being so different from each other with controllers, dual screens, cartridges, discs, SD cards etc so backwards compatability just wasn't possible.

That is why I hope the hybrid system is the way forward from now on, some consistency for a few gens with full backwards compatability from the Switch onwards so the necessity of ports slows down.

But then again as much as I want all the new games I would also bite your hand off for an HD remake of Wave Race 64 or Star Fox 64!

@Friendly no I didn’t agree with you... smh.

Look my overall point, and the one I was making initially is that comparing the sales to MS and Sony does a disservice to the sales of Switch.

You seem adamant to base the success of the Switch on the success of Xbox and PS.

I’m saying that the sales are impressive regardless.

By comparing the sales of a mid-life console to the sales of an end-life console does a disservice to the Switch sales. Why compare the impressive achievement against something that is expected to be unimpressive?

Hence the young man/old man running analogy.

You’re missing my point and acting like a fanboy. I’m saying the Switch sales are impressive beyond a weak comparison.

@Clyde_Radcliffe that’s fair, but saying Nintendo is ‘proper’ compared to Xbox and PlayStation is also fanboyish.

They all produce awesome games, it’s just that people obviously have preferences. I’m lucky to have all three major platforms and they all do something special and they all lead in their own ways and they’re all successful.

@Ajent You sound like a fanboy of the other consoles yourself, especially with how you're trying to downplay Nintendo's success, so...

And it's not fanboyism to say Nintendo's a proper gaming company, it's a fact. The other two make TVs, stereos, PC operating systems, office software etc and all manner of non gaming related products... Nintendo is a games company.

@Ajent you’re starting to get personal here. Calling me a fanboy for no reason. And shaking your head for no reason.

You need some comparison material to define whether something is impressive or not. You can’t say a huge number is impressive just on its own. Every damage number in every jrpg would be impressive or something. Hence my comparison to the PS4 sales in its 4th year. 4th. The same year the switch is currently in. In a country locked into the PS ecosystem and at the time wasn’t experiencing a pandemic.

Did you miss that I said that?

Because that’s clearly an apples to apples comparison. And it’s mightily impressive of Nintendo to make the Switch that appealing and be able to generate that many systems during a pandemic compared to how Sony made the PS4 appealing in its 4th year. A whole lot less apparently.

Or are you now saying it’s still apples to oranges because people were stuck at home last year while in the 4th year of the PS4 people weren’t? This way of reasoning makes everything always incomparable. Because there’s always a different time and place for everything

@electrolite77

Yep. Ports and remakes appeal to me massively as well as new titles.

For all the fantastic new games that still come out I have grown increasingly tired of battle passes, microtransactions, identikit annual "AAA" titles, sometimes I do just want to go back and play the classics and having them all available to me from one Nintendo console is the dream.

I do understand though why some are getting a little tired of the ports especially if they had a Wii U and already bought those games as they are so recent in relative terms.

@Ajent I do agree there are lots of arguments on both sides, but the stat is correct it did outsell them both. And taking into account the position Nintendo has had in the UK then the articles is right to praise the achievement.

@TheFullAndy agreed. I didn’t have a Wii U (@Ajent counterargument for your fanboy claim) nor did I have a Playstation One back in the day nor a Vita or PSP, so getting all the classic jrpg’s from those systems and all Wii U games released one by one on the Switch is something I also very much enjoy about my Switch.

@Friendly

If there is one thing console makers will do well to learn from PC's is the value of having the entire catalogue of games available to consumers from the start. Obviously that will never be the case as too many gens have past but it is good to have a starting point and we can have that with Switch, PS5 and Series X/S and slowly add classic games to those consoles along with the new.

@Friendly never mind. Like I said before... well done.

@dew12333 totally right to praise the achievement I agree. I just think the achievement is cheapened by comparing it to a console that’s expected to sell less.

@Ajent I'm neutral here as I love both Nintendo and Sony before people start hating on me too.

I have to agree with you the fact that the ps4 is at the end of its life and has sold around 115 million units meaning there's not a lot of people left wanting one, also the ps5 and xbox series have had stock shortages due to covid. Also because of the pandemic there has been a greater need for handheld gaming plus the phenomenal animal crossing which seems to be "the" game to have at the moment, this has contributed to the switch sales massively.

So if the ps5 didn't have stock issues and there wasn't a pandemic and animal crossing never released then I doubt the switch would of sold the amount it has.

But the fact it has and that's a good thing as more switches sold means more and better games (hopefully) and the longer online games on the switch get to live.

I will add to those saying the ps5 is an expensive way to play ps4 games, then for the fun of it I will counter that the switch is an expensive way to play the best wiiU games....

@Clyde_Radcliffe I’m a fanboy of the other consoles? Did you even read my other comments? I’m assuming not... you seem to be missing my point.

It IS fanboyism to say that only Nintendo is THE proper games platform and that Sony and MS are not because they also make other products.

@UltimateOtaku91 THIS. Exactly my point. Agreed.

Switch sales should decline in 2021 compared to 2020, but sales should still remain well above 1 million units sold.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Nintendo are more than just a game company, they sell toys, cards, Arcades, helping produce TV series and films and are opening a theme park.

@Ajent got to say. In my opinion you’re bad at admitting you’re wrong. And rude.

I will never follow your opinion in saying every article with any sales numbers is useless because... incomparable to whatever was released ever. You got to base your opinion on something, for instance sales figures of the competitor or the predecessor.

@UltimateOtaku91 All of those things are games related?

@UltimateOtaku91 now compare the sales of the switch of last year to the 4th year the ps4 was on the market.

The switch still sold ~500.000-600.000 systems more. All due to the pandemic? Or just the appeal of the system?

@Friendly I’m not admitting I’m wrong? What’s wrong with you? Rude? You’ve lead a very sheltered life if you think I’ve been rude.

The bizarre thing is, I’m trying to say that these figure are impressive. But they’re more impressive when you don’t compare them to sales figures of a those products that are expected to perform to a lesser standard. And you seem insistent on making these comparisons that cheapen the achievement. It’s weird.

Switch last year was a younger console. Half way through its life cycle. It’s sales were hugely impressive. The PS4 and XB1 were on their way out. Fans of those systems who wanted to buy one have been incentivised to not buy one, either through saturation or because they’re waiting for the next gen console variant.

It is not impressive to say that a younger, newer console outsold those consoles. But... the sales figures are impressive regardless of comparison. The comparison cheapens the achievement. It isn’t needed. It is fanboyish console bashing for the sake of it.

Everything actually did really well last year, it’s just that Switch had a stellar year.

THATS my point. In my honest, politely held opinion, trying to draw further comparison to some how validate Nintendo’s achievement is juvenile and unnecessary.

You can compare year on year, and that’s fair. Which you have done. But that isn’t what I comment on, nor is it the content of the article we’re commenting on.

@Friendly the switches appeal made it the ideal system during the pandemic plus animal crossing was the perfect game for that, the ps4 sold 6 million units in the UK after 5 years on the market so if the switch beats that total by the end of this year then that's a feat.

Also the switch has two models after 4 years and merged it's massive handheld crowd with its home console crowd into one big family.

@Clyde_Radcliffe well in a way yes 😂 but I just wanted to point out that they aren't just a game making company

@Ajent I must be the only one who gets what you're trying to say lol

The switch is at its mid life cycle and its peak sales, its the hottest console right now and comparing it to two last gen consoles that have died off and two new gen consoles that have major stock shortages is pointless.

@electrolite77

I have picked up about half the Wii U ports myself despite owning them on Wii U, having them looking shinier and properly portable is a big bonus.

I personally think the Switch library of games (not just first party) is absolutely stellar. People seem to forget just how bad it got with Wii U, I would be waiting months for a game of worth to show up, now there seems to be gems added every week.

@UltimateOtaku91 thanks, at least I know I’m not going crazy!

@Ajent smh

@UltimateOtaku91 i’m comparing the sales to the sales of PS4 in its 4th year.

@Friendly why? You OK?

@Friendly honestly could only find that the ps4 sold 6 million total in UK by 2018 which would be its 5th year, how many units did the ps4 sell in its 4th year?

@UltimateOtaku91 941,545 https://www.statista.com/statistics/281860/sales-of-the-playstation-3-gaming-devices-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

@Friendly just found that by the end of its 4th year the ps4 sold 73.6 million worldwide compared to the switches 80 million albeit with two systems, so kudos to the switch its officially so far smashing the ps4 lol

@Ajent because you’re shoving my argument aside saying ‘that’s not what we’re comparing here’ as if that’s something you only can decide.

Long story short: ps4 in its 4th year: ~950.000. Switch in its 4th year: 1.5 million and also outselling the two competitors combined in the same year too. Stock owners love to hear that information. It matters. And it is comparable. Because it shows appeal. And revenue.

Don’t shove it aside because it’s incomparable because of covid or something. If sony would have released the same amount of games Nintendo did in its latest years of the 3DS the ps4 still had appeal. Or if it would be a system that would still be different enough compared to the others. The companies had different business strategies. The one of Nintendo did work out. Amazing how many switches they were able to produce despite the pandemic. Sony and Microsoft did not adjust (enough) and had a business strategy that did not work out as well, so a bad strategy in the eyes of the stock owners. And the result, money and revenue, is 100% comparable. Being agile and in a blue ocean or not is a massive deal. Call me a fanboy but as someone working in a business (engineering) we’re also constantly looking for that ‘blue ocean’, where we can win a field of expertise for ourselves. Nintendo has done so. Very, very well done. Sony and Microsoft haven’t found one and weren’t able to be agile enough to produce enough new systems or promote their current systems and their results were therefore lackluster comparatively.

But whatever. You will probably rudely shove it aside with ‘smh, well done’.

@UltimateOtaku91 I honestly still can't comprehend how ACNH managed to drive console sales the way it did. It's a mediocre entry with a dearth of content, but with some nice fresh paint in a series that's always been kinda niche, albeit socially trendy. I get that some people love it, but to drive console sales the way Wii Sports did, I just don't get how that happened, at all.

@NEStalgia I agree I have played around 25 hours and it just doesn't do it for me but my misses and her little brother have put hundreds of hours into it, I think it's a very casual game a very relaxing and go at your own pace kind of game which I get why so many people would like but it's not for me.

Also the fact is pretty much bundle with every switch lite has helped lol

@UltimateOtaku91 The weird thing about it is it seems less casual than its predecessors. Most of the casual life sim was removed and replace with more "gamey" systems that are almost MMO-lite. I get if you're not a gamer you'll just see it for what it is instead of what it isn't and what it used to be. But I think I'd have been bored to tears with it even as a non-gamer. There's no hook, just chores. I know there's some folks here that adore it and spend absurd time with it....and despite many conversations attempting to divine how, I still don't understand it and never will...different strokes and all that. The concept and such I get (I was a big fan of the existing series), but the implementation in this entry feels so thin. And then I see that it alone drove console sales.... Though I do wonder how "Wii" this new audience is. Meaning, will they buy many other games, or will they stick around for the next hardware, or are they temporary guests like the Wii Sports crowd was that'll stick it in the closet and forget about it when it's done.

To be fair, I don't get the Smash obsession either. I buy the games. I like the games. Then I move on from the games. When they opened the direct with more Smash it's like "for real, you're still on this game??"

It's called innovation that's what it is.

@Ajent RIGHT!!!!

@Rafie

They said a lot here, what in particular are they right about?

@TheFullAndy Referencing his first comment. The #2 comment.

@Rafie

Fair do's and I get what @Ajent is saying as well but if you click on the gameindustrybiz link at the bottom of the article it does show that sales of all Xbox and Playstation consoles were both significantly up from the year before yet Switch still outsold them combined.

That is a noteworthy fact and one both Xbox and Playstation sites would jump on too if it was the other way around.

@TheFullAndy You don't have to defend Nintendo to me. I would say the same if it was the other way around. Right now, it's Nintendo. There's a lot of intangibles with outselling them combined, but I digress. I shouldn't take that away from Nintendo's success. It is a milestone.

@Rafie

There are of course a lot of mitigating factors but to not expect a Nintendo centric website to celebrate their console of choice outselling their competitiors combined is unrealistic.

@Ajent really should have realised that from the start.

@MS7000 It’s pretty sad that even on an article showing how amazing Nintendo is doing, you still can’t resist making an ass of yourself by raining on people’s parade and purely focus on what you don’t like about Nintendo. Why are you even on a Nintendo fan site?

@TheFullAndy ... this is getting old... I do realise that. I’m saying the comparison cheapens the achievement. See my previous comments.

@Donkey-Kong-Fan Nintendo as a developer make great games. I should know, I have been playing them for a long time now. That is why I am here. Doesn't mean I like Nintendo as a whole, certainly not as it is presently. Nintendo makes good business decisions from their perspective; good for them. Doesn't mean I have to agree with those decisions nor does it mean Nintendo are immune to criticism. Not to mention, quite a few of my comments on this site have nothing to do with Nintendo's current decisions subject wise, even if they seem most prominent at present.

With that all said, I have seen several comments from you in other articles where you seem keen to label people who don't outright praise everything Nintendo do as haters or questioning why they are on the site. Has it ever occurred to you with as many consoles and games that Nintendo have made that perhaps users may come here because they are fond of the Gamecube, or perhaps the DS or NES etc? This site is also a forum. People who were fans of Nintendo's old consoles still count as fans wouldn't you say, regardless of how they feel about Nintendo at present?

Who made you the arbiter and gatekeeper of who should be on this site? If my comments seem to upset you and you think I don't belong/shouldn't be here, then I have a tip for you. There is a perfectly good "Ignore" button at the bottom right of each of my comments. Use it, and you will be free to love Nintendo without my supposed negativity. Have fun.

@Ajent

It doesn't cheapen it though. At all.

To make things like sales numbers make more sense there needs to be context, outselling the other consoles combined is context.

But you have your view and I have mine so we can leave it there.

@TheFullAndy I mean... it does.

If you say “It sold really well, even against this other four year old console” then that’s a fair comparison and relevant comparisons of competition can be made and celebrated.

If you say “It sold really well. It beat two other consoles as well. Yes, yes, yes... we know those consoles are older and less people are buying them... but we’re still going to use that to justify why the Switch sales are awesome”, that’s not really impressive. It’s almost obvious (No?).

As I’ve explained multiple times now... the figures don’t need justifying. They’re impressive ‘as is’. Comparing them to sales of consoles that are expected to be at their lowest of their lifecycle (maybe excluding this year) isn’t exactly something to be proud of... so why draw the comparison?

Like my original comparison. If I’m a 40yr old man and I win a 100m foot race against another 40yr old man, then that’s (in context) impressive. If I as a 40yr old man beat an 80yr old man in a 100m foot race, why should I expect people to think that’s impressive?

Now, if there is a leaderboard for 40yr old men running 100m and I get the fastest time on that leaderboard... that fact alone is more impressive than winning against another 40yr old man alone.

The Switch sales are the equivalent of getting top of the leaderboard for a consoles sales at four years- very impressive.

@Ajent

It wasn't just against those 4 year old consoles though now was it?

@TheFullAndy exactly... that’s my point. It was against 8yr old consoles in a year when their sales should have been expected to be at their lowest point.

@Ajent

Have you actually read the article? It was PS4, Xbox One, PS5 and Series S/X combined.

@TheFullAndy yeah... so, two 8yr old consoles at their lowest point, and two consoles with no stock... context really is everything.

Edit: the two consoles with no stock were also only on sale for a month and half of the comparison period.

@Ajent

The PS5 still sold 450 thousand. The Series consoles still sold 350 thousand. Console launch sales numbers are higher than normal as well.

So to use your analogy, it is a 40 year old man running against two 80 year old men being carried by two fit young 20 year old men.

Edit: The Switch also had stock issues throughout the year as noted in the linked article.

@TheFullAndy yes, but to use my analogy; the two fit 20yr old men put the two 80yr old men down after 15m and stop running themselves.

The 40yr old man tripped, twice, and fell over both times. He still got up and beat the two 80yr old men as they carried on running. Surprise, surprise.

@Ajent

Actually the 20 year old men would show up at the end of the race.

Regardless, Switch outselling all console competitors combined adds context to an already impressive feat.

@TheFullAndy well if they show up at the end of the race they still lose, because the race has ended. It seems more appropriate for the analogy to have them carry the older men at the beginning of the race, giving them a head start.

It adds some context, but only in the sense of explaining what similar products were also sold that year. It leaves out the context that two of those products were expected to have their lowest sales and that the other two products were only on sale for 16% of the period being reviewed (and were the most impacted in relation to stock shortages! - something that the article even explains!).

I’m done with this now though. It’s like trying to paint a picture for blind people.

@Ajent

So you agree it adds context then, great!

@Ajent numbers can not be impressive ‘as is’.

You are not comparing apples with apples.

Either the Switch docked is a home console first and foremost (as originally announced by Nintendo) or it is a hybrid. But the Switch Lite device is a handheld console only.

So the figures show that Nintendo sells more handheld device's than the other two, that's it.