Switch Is Poised To Be Nintendo's Best-Selling Console Of All Time

Sony's finding some more PS2 sales down the back of the sofa as we speak

I'm fairly sure they will sell those last 10k units to make it their most succesful console to date. There's still plenty of people getting the OG Switch(es).

Personally, I'm very curious to see where Switch 2 will end up, eventually. It's been a massive success so far, but I seriously wonder if they can keep the momentum going.

No wonder. Switch became my favorite console, beating even PS Vita which I considered best handheld for a long time. I have all the games that I ever wanted to play on the go now (still waiting for Shenmue III).

On top of that my Switch OLED is modded so I have an Android installed on it, perfect for watching some movies (so much better than a phone on some trips), some apps, watching Twitch etc. Amazing little machine.

@Nintoz I'm waiting for this as well, lol

For me, PS5 is still my number 1 console with PS4 at number 2 and Switch at number 3.

It seems the Switch will continue to do well for a few years yet and with sales currently still in the millions, only Yoshida can stop it from becoming the best seller of all time.

The fact it's never really had a price cut outside of bundles, makes it all the more impressive. I hope they release a cheap Switch Mini, just a basic TV console I can hide behind my TV.. I'm all digital, so even if it's digital only, it would be fine by me. But adding a cartridge slot shouldn't add too much the cost and would likely ensure it sells far more than just an all-digital console.

For me also, Switch 1 is the best console/hybrid I ever had !

Where that Metroid Prime 4 Special Edition SKU be at? That'd sell at least 15k.

Soak it in, Switch lovers. We done it. We ******* done it. We goat'd that little sunnuvabeach.

The Switch will never, ever surpass the PS2. It’s just not going to happen. There’s no way Sony doesn’t know exactly how many units they’ve manufactured and shipped — they have to report precise numbers to the Japanese tax authorities. Of course they know the exact figure. But they’ll cling to that record, from now until eternity.
Nintendo, on the other hand, couldn’t care less about that record. If they did, they would’ve dropped the price of the original Switch ages ago. A $100 Switch Lite in 2024, and we’d already be looking at 160+ million units sold. But Nintendo doesn’t care — and that’s exactly the point.
It’s kind of like the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate: one is obsessed with stats and records, convincing himself he’s still the best; the other just plays and moves on.
The PS2 is, and will remain, the ultimate champion. Nothing can change that.

If only the Switch had come with a DVD player… sigh.

Very well-deserved. It was liberating not to have to be chained to the TV anymore. Just a quick glance at the library proves how truly incredible it is, along with having NSO on the side. I knew it would be a success back then, but I certainly didn’t think it would go this far!

@gcunit
Please don't. I'm already waiting for that Hyrule Switch Lite price to drop and get one. I don't need a reason to buy another Switch after that. Make it a Metroid themed Switch 2 instead. 😁

On the other hand, Nintendo used to sell handheld systems and home consoles separately. Two different audiences, even though many players owned both.

Since the release of the Switch, handheld and home console players are buying the same device which makes the sales figures look virtually larger. Still an impressive number though.

Yes it surpassed the DS by now since another month has passed. And surpassing the PS2, with some extra millions to add, is a nobrainer. Anyone saying otherwise has no clue about the industry and sales happening. With 4m Switch 1 consoles at least to be sold until March 2026, selling 2m more will be done way before Holidays 2026, and it will go on to sell some more millions too for the next 2 years to add. Also we do know how many PS2 have been produced, so Sony can't pretend otherwise anymore throwing fake number out there. The last PS2 produced was the 160,636,885th. Not to mention, not all of those were sold, since it would be total nonsense if anyone believed that there was a 100% sell through. Not even one unit more than those exists, so here goes 1st place to Switch 1 next year and that's the end of it. Fun fact that the PS2 was also sold as the cheapest good DVD Player of it's time too, or else it wouldn't even have sold anywhere near that number. Not to mention it barely had any competition with the other consoles selling only 45m in total. Switch 1 on the other hand is a pure console with no extra non gaming / multimedia nonsense, and its competition was 150m previous gen consoles and 114m and rising current gen consoles from the other two. There's no greater achievement than what the Switch 1 did ( as well as amassing the biggest and best console library ever in existence by far ), and it will never be surpassed at anything ever. And it totally deserves it, nothing more to add .-

I didn't realize how good we had it with the Switch, with physical releases here and there. It's a dreadful situation with the Switch 2 key-cards.

@Nintoz until Nintendo sighs, shrugs and pulls ~15 million more NDS sales from behind their own furniture.

@Pillowpants I don't expect NS2 to fully replicate Switch's sales (such numbers rarely happen overall, let alone back to back), but I'm pretty confident in its potential to cross the 100 million mark at the very least.

PlayStation 2 is quickly finding another 10 million sales no doubt

Switch will probably top out at a respectable 155 million units sold, but few are buying the old console especially with the stupid price hike.

As for Switch 2, it's too hard to say how long the momentum will last but it's going and the upcoming holiday sales will be a good indicator of how popular the console will be for casual gamers.

@timp29 Sony starts sneaking in second hand sales

@Nintoz I legitimately laughed out loud when I read that. Good work.

That's as of September 30th. The Switch has definitely outsold the DS by now. Hail to the new king of Nintendo!

Only 990k to topple the king

@KociolekDoSyta you can play your own Movies and music without nodding the switch OLED just use YouTube.

Jon over at GVG has taken the news of the Switch 2 closely out pacing the Wii U rather harshly (all jokes)

@OorWullie I've been waiting nearly a decade for a Switch TV. 😁 OK to be fair I gave up like 5 years ago but I'm blaming COVID.😉 But, while the Switch maybe sold well enough Nintendo didn't need a Switch Mini, and it wasn't really powerful enough to be a home console anyway, I think the Switch 2 could get one in a few years based on the current power and price. Switch 2 Lite first for $299, then Switch 2 TV for $299 a year later. Preferably cheaper w/o the screen, dock and battery, but probably $299 b/c Nintendo is Apple now.🤑

The little red $99 Wii Mini did launch really late, so maybe there's still a chance, but at 160m that market is probably tapped out, so I think they save it for Switch 2. $450 is just too expensive for everyone getting multiple at home, gotta get lower for the kids. And the dads.

@Axecon Just 2 articles ago NL wrote that Switch sold 2 million consoles and it expects to sell 2 million more, so that's 157 mil at least. And until we get a kid friendly $299 Switch 2 Lite it will probably keep selling. 160m is probably possible.

"Naturally, this also means that sales for the original Switch family of systems have tanked, with the console pulling in a meagre 1.89 million in sales, a hefty drop of 60% year-on-year. As a result, Nintendo has decreased its forecast for the Switch accordingly, lowering console sales from 4.5 million to 4 million."

The Switch, and even more so the Switch 2, are real world examples of how far we’ve come in performance per watt and what kind of power you can fit into a tablet-sized device. Our biggest inhibitor now in almost every modern device on the market is battery capacity.

This is a moment in gaming I’ve been waiting for my whole life. We should all just enjoy it and take it in while it’s new and shiny.

@NintendoSense There's no Twitch app tho anymore and I do have Twitch on it (in the background) when I work remotely. Besides, I have all my movies and music collection offline.

I'm not the one who made the switch, so it doesn't have any impact to me, on how well its selling. Almost every system nintendo has made sells well anyway.

PS2 numbers will ALWAYS be higher !!!

I’m sorry-don’t we know for sure it was passed, since we have the Japanese sales given to us weekly? Or aren’t those official enough?

@Pillowpants I think it will be about as successful as the Switch. I don’t expect the momentum to hold… but the Switch 2 doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.

I didn’t expect the high inventory to throw into orbit so fast, so who knows? My initial thoughts were completely smashed.

Japan alone would push passed that threshold

When I first saw Switch 1 specs posted online upon release, I quickly dismissed the system and thought to myself that it was already obsolete. I was dead wrong. I ended up getting one and loved it.

Not bad considering the number of ppl who insisted sales would fall off a cliff

@Anti-Matter For me, PS5 is still my number 1 console with PS4 at number 2 and Switch at number 3.
Here's the problem with that logic. Can you take it on the road and still play without power source and monitor? No. So those talking points already fail here. Also the Switch2 is at level of PS5 but that data is already lost trying to explain that already. It sounds more and more like you want console wars and that couldn't be farther from the truth. People get scared when a Switch2 can outsell and perform at levels they can't admit it can do now after dissing Switch1 for the last 10 years of it's production. Everyone here basically knows you hate Switch2 and will never get one and no one really gives a punt here.

Another point here is the sales.
DS took it's lifespan more then 10 years to get those numbers while the Switch1 only took 7 years to do that. That's the underlying story everyone missed when just looking at the numbers.

Console Unit Sales (Millions)
DS 154.02 --- 2004>>>2016? (12 years) 154.02 million
Switch 154.01 — 2017>>>2025? (7 years) 154.01 million

Now look closer at the time frame and not just how many units. That's the real story that everyone seems to just miss without looking closer.

@Pipulitoch they manufactured 160 million. The idea that they sold 100% of manufactured units at retail is literally insane.

In 14 years nobody ever received a replacement PS2 under warranty repair? Lol ok. For one of the most infamous systems known to break down.
Anyone who has EVER used a PS2 knows about the red disc read error screen.

PS2 probably sold 150 million or less. Anything more is just pure fantasy and fabrication.

Sony: "Oh wait. Looks like a million more people decided to buy some PS2s. Just now. Really. No bull****."

It's definitely my all-time favorite! I didn't help the numbers much though — still playing the launch model and never bought a different edition! Though I did get a lot of Joycon and games.

@JJtheTexan Virtual Boy?

@mattesdude That's exactly what I was thinking

Next week: Sony says they sold infinity +1 PS2 units.