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Switch officially passes Xbox 360 and PS3 lifetime sales on the road to #1

Bodomism

Banned
People forget that the Switch is now both Nintendo's handheld and home console.

Here's some context for sales comparisons when combining home & portable:

SNES + GameBoy = ~ 113 million
N64 + GB Color = ~ 88 million
GC + GBA = 103 million
Wii + DS = 255 million
WiiU + 3DS = 89 million
Switch + Switch Lite = 90+ million (so far)
Doesn't matter since Vita numbers included Vita TV as well, so it's fair to include Switch lite into Switch's family console like Vita.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Doesn't matter since Vita numbers included Vita TV as well, so it's fair to include Switch lite into Switch's family console like Vita.
Add Vita to PS4 and its at 130+ million combined.

Much more accurate comparison to the Switch's likely ~ 125-130 million lifetime sales.
 
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PS Vita and PS4 aren't the same product

PS Vita + Vita TV = Vita family
PS4 + PS4 Slim + PS4 pro = PS4 family
You really will jump through any mind hoops you can for Nintendo sales threads.

Do you ever even talk about actual Nintendo games? All you talk about is how well Nintendo is currently selling, mostly in regards to Japan. Is that the only dog you have in the race in the subject of gaming?
 
Switch will end up as the #3 all time console. It's inevitable. It will never reach PS2 and NDS though, because those two were insanely cheap. Nintendo is not dropping the price anytime soon, especially not to 99 dollars or so.

Revenue wise, Switch is likely already the #1 console of all time, btw. If not, it's very close. Probably by next year.
There's nothing that would stop Nintendo from dropping price very low if they want.

They are using moderately powerfull arm soc made on very mature by now die node (which could be shrunk to very small chip once 7nm gets much cheaper).
They don't have mechanical nor ssd drive (those can't drop below certain price levels which is responsible for no ultra cheap last gen models unlike ps2 era)
They use super mature screen technology.

Also 150-200$ is much more accessible now even in poorer markets then it was in PS2 era.

Unless Nintendo decides to kill it when their next console is introduced they have real shot at dethroning PS2/DS.
 

jigglet

Banned
The success of the PS2 was due to the ability of it to still sell well, long after the 360 and PS3 launched (it only got discontinued after 12 years) . Part of that was due to how cheap it was in its later years, and the extensive PS1 and PS2 library and partly due to the failures of the PS3.

So sure, the Switch can potentially outsell the PS2, but that requires that Nintendo not launch a successor in 2023/2024 and give it a substantial price cut. Neither of which is likely as Nintendo does not take losses on consoles sold, and that they would certainly would want to capitalize on the success of the Switch and not have another Wii U debacle.

Wasn't that the last generation that got to RRP $99? I remember in the old days they all used to drop like a stone when the next gen came out. But then that just stopped happening.
 
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ape2man

Member
250 million, but that was a statistical anomaly.

Nintendo's handheld and home consoles usually wind up combining for around 100 million +

Switch should comfortably be Nintendo's second most lucrative era in gaming, especially given its monstrous first party software sales,

and fortunately its success looks much more stable than the DS and Wii era which captured a gigantic casual market who quickly moved on to smart phones.

Switch 2 is in a very good position.

Does anyone have data to see if nintendo just cannibalized their handheld market to safe their console market?
 
People forget that the Switch is now both Nintendo's handheld and home console.

Here's some context for sales comparisons when combining home & portable:

SNES + GameBoy = ~ 113 million
N64 + GB Color = ~ 88 million
GC + GBA = 103 million
Wii + DS = 255 million
WiiU + 3DS = 89 million
Switch + Switch Lite = 90+ million (so far)
So it's on track to being the second best selling Nintendo "combo" ever. Switch is a beast.
 

Kjtc1979

Member
People forget that the Switch is now both Nintendo's handheld and home console.

Here's some context for sales comparisons when combining home & portable:

SNES + GameBoy = ~ 113 million
N64 + GB Color = ~ 88 million
GC + GBA = 103 million
Wii + DS = 255 million
WiiU + 3DS = 89 million
Switch + Switch Lite = 90+ million (so far)

Two caveats with this framework: overlap of audience (consumers who bought both a handheld and home console now only buy one system), and efficiency of R&D, marketing, and software support for only one system.

The first caveat makes Switch reaching combined sales of units more difficult.

The second explains why FY 2020 was the most profitable in Nintendo’s long history, eclipsing the halcyon days of Wii and DS.
 

Marty-McFly

Banned
People forget that the Switch is now both Nintendo's handheld and home console.

Here's some context for sales comparisons when combining home & portable:

SNES + GameBoy = ~ 113 million
N64 + GB Color = ~ 88 million
GC + GBA = 103 million
Wii + DS = 255 million
WiiU + 3DS = 89 million
Switch + Switch Lite = 90+ million (so far)
1. This is not how it works.

2. Even with this metric Switch is going to easily pass everything you have listed here by next year other than Wii + DS. Gameboy and SNES took 9 years to reach in total hardware sales what Switch alone will blow by it in under 5. Switch is also making Nintendo far more money at a far faster rate than any combination here other Wii and DS, which it is already matching in revenue during they're peak years and surpassing profits.

3. Switch + Switch Lite are two different SKU's of the same product, like Gameboy and Gameboy Light.
 
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Marty-McFly

Banned
Also this
So it's on track to being the second best selling Nintendo "combo" ever. Switch is a beast.
and this
Two caveats with this framework: overlap of audience (consumers who bought both a handheld and home console now only buy one system), and efficiency of R&D, marketing, and software support for only one system.

The first caveat makes Switch reaching combined sales of units more difficult.

The second explains why FY 2020 was the most profitable in Nintendo’s long history, eclipsing the halcyon days of Wii and DS.
 
I think they are eventually going to drop Switch to $199 and Switch Lite to $129 or so, and that will take them to something like 150 M. Not that the final number matters much. Their revenue is already matching the peak years of the Wii+DS and tripling the revenue of the WiiU+3DS years.
 
Two caveats with this framework: overlap of audience (consumers who bought both a handheld and home console now only buy one system), and efficiency of R&D, marketing, and software support for only one system.

The first caveat makes Switch reaching combined sales of units more difficult.

The second explains why FY 2020 was the most profitable in Nintendo’s long history, eclipsing the halcyon days of Wii and DS.
IIRC, Switch is already the most profitable console of all time. Nintendo is the king of profit by a huge margin.
 

Xdrive05

Member
It's such a great system! It really deserves to have its store and online features overhauled accordingly to fit with its proven potential as a successful platform. Maybe we'll get a better organized store some day, but there's no way Nintendo will properly embrace online. It's in their DNA now to botch online multiplayer infrastructure. That said, their "retro game 99..." and subscriber based access to legacy console libraries thing is kind of apropos for their style, so that's cool I guess.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Never felt like an every day day 1 console I still think Nintendo lacks the direction steam Microsoft and Sony has, sure it’ll run games in hd but it’s mostly due to their willingness to earn peoples money, that’s a great company Nintendo.
 

kyliethicc

Member
2. Even with this metric Switch is going to easily pass everything you have listed here by next year.
Read the list again. Wii and DS = 255 million combined.

The Switch combines 2 markets. Comparing it to hardware for 1 market is a bit misleading and unfair to that hardware. Obviously the Switch is very successful system, its selling very well.

Two caveats with this framework: overlap of audience (consumers who bought both a handheld and home console now only buy one system), and efficiency of R&D, marketing, and software support for only one system.

The first caveat makes Switch reaching combined sales of units more difficult.

I agree this is a good point. Maybe for compensation add like an extra ~ 20% of sales on top. Like if Switch sells 125 million lifetime, if it was 2 separate pieces of hardware for a portable and a home system, maybe it would have sold like 150 mil combined. Hard to say.
 

Kjtc1979

Member
Read the list again. Wii and DS = 255 million combined.

The Switch combines 2 markets. Comparing it to hardware for 1 market is a bit misleading and unfair to that hardware. Obviously the Switch is very successful system, its selling very well.



I agree this is a good point. Maybe for compensation add like an extra ~ 20% of sales on top. Like if Switch sells 125 million lifetime, if it was 2 separate pieces of hardware for a portable and a home system, maybe it would have sold like 150 mil combined. Hard to say.
Impossible to say. If it was two separate pieces of hardware, it wouldn’t be a Switch and it wouldn’t have the same software catalog.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I see it passing the Wii & PSX, that's about it


Btw this is the 4th thread about Switch being on the road to the #1 selling console without a mention of the PS4 🤔
 
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Marty-McFly

Banned
Btw this is the 4th thread about Switch being on the road to the #1 selling console without a mention of the PS4 🤔
It's tracking way ahead of PS4 and will pass it ahead of fy 2023 and that's being conservative.

Switch will be at over 100 million by the holidays and PS4 came to a screeching halt at 114 million.

Do the math.
 
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nordique

Member
Yeah Switch should be compared to home system+handheld combined numbers.

It is kind of funny, how some people say that switch is hybrid, when it works for their agenda, and then when it doesnt, it is not mentioned.

Like when comparing Switch sales to home consoles, it is just not fair. There is literally a handheld only version of switch available.

What would be fair? Either compare it to Wii+DS sales, or make a new category for hybrids, which would be fair IMO.

Or take best selling Playstation home console + handheld and combine those numbers vs switch.
That’s ridiculous. It is it’s own system.
Maybe the concept of it being a hybrid is part of its appeal? It has earned its sales. It’s a great system and clearly has wide appeal.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
It's tracking way ahead of PS4 and will pass it ahead of fy 2023 and that's being conservative.

Switch will be at over 100 million by the holidays and PS4 came to a screeching halt at 114 million.

Do the math.
116mil as of March.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
My bad the number I looked at was old.

My point stands though, PS4 sales have come to a halt and will soon just be a trickle.

Switch will pass it before 2023.
Yeah sure if it continues to sell 30mil a year and PS4 sales really come to a halt.
Although I'm sure I had this same conversation about the Wii 🤔
That fucker nosedived 😂
 

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
Great selling system, but still way lower than Nintendo's best heydays which was Wii + DS sales 10-15 years ago. Those two probably combined for 200 million.
We're comparing one system's sales vs two now? Is this where we've come to in Switch sales threads?

Wii and DS were two very different beasts. Vastly different software, uses, interface and audience. Conflating their sales vs Switch makes no sense imo - makes even less sense than conflating, say, PS3 and Vita sales, since those systems catered to the same audience. I'm not even sure that Switch has software that you can strictly play in one of its two modes only, and if it has, it's a handful of titles. It's a single system, and it should be accounted for as such.

I'm not sure Switch can go much further than #3 of all time, but it's been a wild ride so far, so who knows.
 

Marty-McFly

Banned
Yeah sure if it continues to sell 30mil a year and PS4 sales really come to a halt.
Although I'm sure I had this same conversation about the Wii 🤔
That fucker nosedived 😂
PS4 production is pretty much at a standstill and Switch is on pace to have it's second best year on the market. Wii nosedived much earlier in its lifecycle btw The two are not remotely comparable.
 

Kjtc1979

Member
Yeah sure if it continues to sell 30mil a year and PS4 sales really come to a halt.
Although I'm sure I had this same conversation about the Wii 🤔
That fucker nosedived 😂
PS4 sales have come to a halt already because Sony has cut production to support PS5.

Wii and Switch have very different sales trends:

Wii:
FY1: 5.84
FY2: 18.61
FY3: 25.95
FY4: 20.53
FY5: 15.08
FY6: 9.84
FY7: 3.98

Switch:
FY1: 2.74
FY2: 15.05
FY3: 16.95
FY4: 21.03
FY5: 28.83

Switch is now outselling Wii launch-aligned. It has been outselling PS4 launch-aligned by a healthy margin for a while now.
 
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TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
PS4 sales have come to a halt already because Sony has cut production to support PS5.

Wii and Switch have very different sales trends:

Wii:
FY1: 5.84
FY2: 18.61
FY3: 25.95
FY4: 20.53
FY5: 15.08
FY6: 9.84
FY7: 3.98

Switch:
FY1: 2.74
FY2: 15.05
FY3: 16.95
FY4: 21.03
FY5: 28.83

Switch is now outselling Wii launch-aligned. It has been outselling PS4 launch-aligned by a healthy margin for a while now.
As I said if it continues to sell 30mil in a year then yes.
 

mckmas8808

Banned
With Nintendo being the only console maker with a handheld feature, as long as their systems always have a handheld component to it, I dont see their systems doing bad. No matter what mobile gaming does on smartphones doesn't seem to hurt Nintendo handhelds.

But if Nintendo ever tries doing a traditional console again it'll be DOA. I don't see them being able to replicate a Wii success again without a mobile part to it.

And the bolded part is what's best about Nintendo. They've recognized that, and are using it to their advantage.
 

kyliethicc

Member
Impossible to say. If it was two separate pieces of hardware, it wouldn’t be a Switch and it wouldn’t have the same software catalog.
Not necessarily.

The Wii U and Switch can play the same games. They could have just made a home system called "Nintendo X" and a portable called the "Nintendo Y" and they play the same game library.

Of course its impossible to know exactly. But comparing the Switch's sales to systems like the Wii or Wii U is ignoring the extra sales Nintendo used to have from the DS and 3DS. Or the other way around if you compare Switch to their handhelds.

They contracted their software library into 1 combined collection. That probably hurts total software sales because they used to have Wii game sales and DS games sales. Now they only have Switch games. They left both hardware and software sales on the table by abandoning the dedicated home console market. That was real money they used to have coming in. So its a factor when Nintendo judge how the system sold lifetime.
 
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Bodomism

Banned
And you have the data to back that up?
bDgkKek.jpg
 
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