this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Nintendo Switch:

  • Hardware:129.53 million units
  • Software:1,088.35 million units

In comparison:

Nintendo Wii

  • Hardware: 101.63 million units
  • Software: 921.85 million units

Nintendo DS

  • Hardware: 154.02 million units
  • Software: 948.76 million units

Top 10 Switch titles and their sales:

  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 55.46 million pcs.
  • Animal Crossing: New Horizons - 42.79 million pcs.
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - 31.77 million pcs.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 30.65 million pcs.
  • Super Mario Odyssey - 26.44 million pcs.
  • Pokémon Sword/Pokémon Shield - 25.92 million pcs.
  • Pokémon Scarlet/Pokémon Violet - 22.66 million pcs.
  • Super Mario Party - 19.39 million pcs.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (released May 12, 2023) - 18.51 million pcs.
  • New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe - 16.17 million pcs.
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[–] slimerancher 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Third best selling console of all time. Behind DS (154.02 M) and PlayStation 2 (155 M)! Switch is going great, but I don't think it will be able to take over either of those.

TotK is selling really good. It should be able to cross BotW. Let's wait and see.

BTW I just realized DS is less than a million behind PS 2! Wow, what a close one.

Thanks for the link, and posting the summary!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

@slimerancher

@picandocodigo it's averaging about 20M units a year, so assuming Switch 2 makes the Switch 1 totally obsolete, we'd need another year+ of strong sales to rise to number one. If the Switch 1 continues to be sold after Switch 2 is released (not fully backwards compatible, Switch 1 price drop, Switch 2 is just more expensive), then less than a year or strong sales plus another couple years of long tail sales to get over the hump.

If it overtakes, I can imagine the most likely scenario to make it happen are - Switch 2 is considered unambiguous successor at $350-$400, Switch 1 price drop of only like $25-$50, basically just to clearance out the old stock, except no switch lite replacement for the first year, so the now $150-$175 switch lite continues to to rack up sales at a ridiculously apealing price. Obviously they could easily reach 1at place if they did a really agressive price drop but that doesn't seem likely for nintendo at all- a small price drop on the lite, especially if the choices are $150 Lite, $250 V2, $300 OLED, $400 Switch 2

[–] slimerancher 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's interesting.

If Switch 2 is completely backwards compatible with Switch games, and Switch ( or Switch Lite) is much cheaper than Switch 2, I can see some people getting Switch instead.

Let's see what happens.

[–] picandocodigo 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My Switch games collection is the biggest games collection I've ever had, so it better be backwards compatible 😅

[–] slimerancher 3 points 1 year ago

Haha, same here. Not counting subscription games, my Switch games library is bigger than my PS5, PS3 and PS Vita's library combined.

[–] Nintendianajones64 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The Nintendo Switch will absolutely pass the ps2.

ps2 had multiple price cuts. The Nintendo Switch has had none.

[–] slimerancher 2 points 1 year ago

I don't think Nintendo believes in price cuts. Though, I haven't checked the data on their previous consoles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

@Nintendianajones64

@picandocodigo @slimerancher I think you're underselling how important the price cuts were to the PS2's longevity, and I don't think Nintendo is willing to go nearly that far. The PS2, like the Nintendo Switch, launched at $299. 2 years later it dropped to $199. Then steady price cuts all the way to $129 preceeding the launch of the PS3 in 2006 at $499/$599. I think it's safe to say that the enormous price difference played a huge role in it's ongoing sales past the PS3 launch. PS2 launched in March 2000, and 7 years later it had sold 117 million units, taking us just a few months past the PS3 launch. In the next 5 years the PS2 sales racked up another 40 million units, or about 25% of all PS2's sold occurred after it's successor's launch.

If the Switch were to follow the same trajectory and a Switch 2 launched this holiday season, we'd see another 40+ million units sold over the next 5 years, ending in over 170 million units sold. But there are a number of reasons to doubt this will happen.

#1 there might literally just not be enough chips left to do that- it's speculated that Nvdia stopped production of the chips and there's a finite number left, which may fall short of that goal.

#2 Nintendo seems very reluctant to drop prices. The PS2 by this point was less than half of the launch price and only 65% of its cost after the first major price drop. The Switch is 100% of its launch price, and I believe in some regions it even got a price hike.

#3 it seems implausible that the Switch 2 will cost as much as a PS3 did at launch (more expensive than the Series S and PS5 digital, equivalent to Series X and PS5 disc). That means the price delta between the Switch and Switch 2 will necessarily be far narrower than the PS2/PS3, so continued sales after the Switch 2 launch are unlikely to be as robust.

#4 Sony wasn't trying to pump up the PS2 numbers, selling it nearly until the PS4 came out was a strange phenomenon born of unusual circumstances. I don't think Nintendo will have any interest in selling the Switch alongside it's successor except to clear out inventory, for the same reason the Wii U and Switch V1 were both discontinued promptly after their successor's came out.