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Nintendo Switch Outsells PS1 Worldwide - Sales

iHaunter

Member
There is no evidence to support this claim. The 3DS sold less than half of the DS. Vita sold less than a fifth of the PSP. Nintendo even had to emergency cut the price of the 3DS to help boost sales.

There has been a clear and significant downward trend in the sales of "handhelds" since the start of the iPhone era until the Switch came around.
I highly disagree. Those consoles generally were just not up to par. The problem with those handhelds is they lacked the library you'd want, so you'd need a handheld AND a full blown console.

They simply combined the sales of BOTH into one device. You can't look at it just as a handheld, you have to combine both of them. And the price-point is reasonable as well.
 
I highly disagree. Those consoles generally were just not up to par. The problem with those handhelds is they lacked the library you'd want, so you'd need a handheld AND a full blown console.

They simply combined the sales of BOTH into one device. You can't look at it just as a handheld, you have to combine both of them. And the price-point is reasonable as well.

In what way did I misrepresent your original quote? You attributed the success of the Switch to it being handheld.

If you want to change that to be that it's a hybrid console with a great library then we're in full agreement.
 

Orta

Banned
PSX > Switch

:)

AGaCvR.gif
 

Calm Mind

Member
Even if you disregard the source of the numbers, you can't deny the Switch was going to pass the PS1 soon enough when not too long ago it past the GBA.

Thankfully, we are getting official numbers next week. I am positive those numbers will exceed VgChartz estimates.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
What happened to that McFly dude, he said it would pass the PS2 by December.
Anyway makes you wonder if PSX would have sold more if it had a longer life, PS2 kinda killed it.
 

Chastten

Banned
Love how salty some Sony fans seem to be about this. First they get bullied by Microsoft taking away their games and now Nintendo is taking away their sales. Sad times to be a Sony fanboy it seems.

But sure, you can count the Switch as a handheld without good games, if it helps you sleep better, no problem. I'll just keep enjoying it.
 

TLZ

Banned
Maybe you're too young but let's not forget the millions of broken psones at launch.
What does that have to do with this? You want to go down this irrelevant route then the Switch's joycons are riddled with problems. But what is the point?
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Yeah, you can move the goal posts any way you like in order to frame your argument. So by your argument, GoW 2 won't count for PS5, nor with HZD2, nor GT7, nor Miles Morales. So right now the marquee PS5 titles are Returnal and Ratchet and Clank. Wait, are you going to count Demons Souls? You really shouldn't because that is simply a remake of a PS3 game. And when/if Returnal or Ratchet and Clank launch on PC then they no longer count either, right? Shit, if that's the case what's the point of buying a PS5 if it has no exclusives?

I will agree with you on one thing - Bloodborne is the best! It got me to buy a PS4. LOL.

I have no reason to move goal posts. If you wanna talk exclusives that include ones that cross platform or exclusive to the platform altogether like Nintendo or Playstion, Xbox as a whole thats a different discussion.

Yeah your right, Gow R, Horizon 2and GT7, Milers Morales definetly doesnt count for PS5 as exclusives as they are also released on the PS4. Its disappointing that there are no PS5 exclusives this year compared to the first year we got Demons Soul, Astrobot, Ratchet and Clank and Returnal. I guess if you don’t want to count demon souls thats cool but I enjoyed it alot. Just like I would count Winker Waker HD as a Wii U exclusive, both brillant.

Yeah if Returnal and Ratchet come to PC then they won’t be exclusives in my eyes. But at the moment, not every game is going to PC.
The reason to have a PS5 is for the price, its cheaper than PC and currenly has its own exclusives. Plus after playing games like Ghost of Tsushima, God of War etc Id much rather play Gow R, Horizon 2, Elden Ring on PS5. Plus I have a so many PS4 games on it too.
Even though I own a PC, Im a console gamer. I play some older games on PC, like recently I finished Ocarina of Time on my PC. Plus it can’t play games like God of War Ragnarok or Returnal at 60fps lol

And yes, Bloodborne is godly. I still play it to help people and run around the world.
 
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FStubbs

Member
There is no evidence to support this claim. The 3DS sold less than half of the DS. Vita sold less than a fifth of the PSP. Nintendo even had to emergency cut the price of the 3DS to help boost sales.

There has been a clear and significant downward trend in the sales of "handhelds" since the start of the iPhone era until the Switch came around.
To be fair, both the 3DS and Vita were crippled products compared to their predecessors:

3DS launched with too high of a price and had wonky 3D which was debated as being unsafe for kids and an overall confusing feature at launch.
Vita launched with minimal support from Sony and had the proprietary memory cards.

It seems like apples to apples but it's not quite.
 
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Love how salty some Sony fans seem to be about this. First they get bullied by Microsoft taking away their games and now Nintendo is taking away their sales. Sad times to be a Sony fanboy it seems.

But sure, you can count the Switch as a handheld without good games, if it helps you sleep better, no problem. I'll just keep enjoying it.

tell me about it. without call of duty they got nothing left. it was call of duty that was holding up the brand. i predict PS brand will be gone by 2025. they got no games coming either. only small games like horizon II, GT7 and god of war ragnarok in comparison to the major games microsoft have over the next few months. what a sad time to be a PS fan indeed..
 
Just look at Zelda selling better than Mario and Pokemon.:messenger_loudly_crying:
9d4868cb30e83407bf4b4c696eb9790d.jpg

Not selling better than Mario Kart 8 Deluxe though but Link is a popular character in Mario Kart now so maybe he can take some of the credit for it's sales as well. Great for the Zelda series to outsell a mainline Mario Platformer and a Mainline Poke'mon on the same system for the first time ever.
 
There's a five million gap between the DS and the PS2. Sounds like you're threading a really fine needle there. :p
Nintendo DS sold 154.02 million officially but where are you getting PS2 selling 159 million, the last official announcement was 155.00m in 2011 before it was discontinued the following year. We have no idea how much it sold in that time frame, it could have been less than 1 million or it could have been 5 million or more, we just don't know.
 

Deerock71

Member
Nintendo DS sold 154.02 million officially but where are you getting PS2 selling 159 million, the last official announcement was 155.00m in 2011 before it was discontinued the following year. We have no idea how much it sold in that time frame, it could have been less than 1 million or it could have been 5 million or more, we just don't know.
Why...NeoGAF, of course. Mind you, I don't actually have anything as precise as Nintendo's final tally for DS sales, even though I'm SURE Sony knows. Why so secretive, I say?

EDIT- I think you may be coming at me as if I'm a Sony backer, but I actually think it's nearly a virtual tie between those two, and it's Sony that's keeping their final numbers in the Fog of War for that reason.
 
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the problem with comparing old system in sales numbers only is that it doesnt take into account the situation and size of the industry at the time, 150 million consoles is a lot but back in day of PS2 it was a much more significant number because the % of the market it represented, for the size of the industry today is not as significant, a similar situation happens with the nes or the atari 2600 their total sales are not big in fact are usually not considered but for their time they were market leaders that dominated the industry so their sales were very significant for the % of the market, assuming there are consoles and the industry keeps growing at the same rate in 20 more year it wont be weird that a system sells 150 million units
Passing 100 million is still very impressive because although the gaming industry is far bigger the competition is much tougher as well with all three console manufacturers being very strong and a huge PC and Mobile ecosystem competing for your money so it is almost impossible for anyone to utterly dominate the way the PS2 did twenty years ago. The PS2 practically had the market to itself selling three times the Dreamcast, Gamecube and Xbox combined, the mainstream never viewed those consoles as a decent alternative to Playstation but that is not the reality now.
 

Woopah

Member
Good for them. Kinda wish they used that money to make more games though.
You're in luck! https://www.neogaf.com/threads/nint...-in-game-development-in-next-5-years.1623005/
The top 10 selling switch games are all first party when we know previously Minecraft on switch has sold more than botw
michael jordan laughing GIF
The list the use for "top 10 switch games" is actually just Nintendo's list of top 10 first party games. In a real top 10 I would expect Minecraft to be on there.
 

Mozza

Member
the problem with comparing old system in sales numbers only is that it doesnt take into account the situation and size of the industry at the time, 150 million consoles is a lot but back in day of PS2 it was a much more significant number because the % of the market it represented, for the size of the industry today is not as significant, a similar situation happens with the nes or the atari 2600 their total sales are not big in fact are usually not considered but for their time they were market leaders that dominated the industry so their sales were very significant for the % of the market, assuming there are consoles and the industry keeps growing at the same rate in 20 more year it wont be weird that a system sells 150 million units
The market has not got bigger, the core market has been around 160-180 million consoles each generation, and has been that way since the original Xbox and PS2, and you could argue Sony did so well because Microsoft were just coming into it, the very next generation the split was pretty much 50/50. When Jim Ryan said the market had gotten bigger I can only assume he was taking into account mobile and the wider mass market potential, not so sure the core will tap into that all that much though.

Nintendo are pretty much in their own market, and have been since the Wii/DS generation, adding their share to the core is misleading. The Switch's Success is an awesome feat considering the sales of the Wii U.
 
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Mozza

Member
What happened to that McFly dude, he said it would pass the PS2 by December.
Anyway makes you wonder if PSX would have sold more if it had a longer life, PS2 kinda killed it.
Not sure he did, he said it would pass the PS2 at some point, might have to go to the "Do you think the Switch will be a success thread", and see what he said.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Not sure he did, he said it would pass the PS2 at some point, might have to go to the "Do you think the Switch will be a success thread", and see what he said.
I did a check, my bad
he said it'll pass the PSX by Christmas and "blow" pass the PS4 before 2023.
So he was not far off with PSX and it's possible the Switch will pass PS4 by Christmas.
 

Kilau

Gold Member
Nintendo continues to win, especially when it comes to the most insufferable fanboys.

Xbox and Sony bros didn’t stand a chance.
 

Mozza

Member
I did a check, my bad
he said it'll pass the PSX by Christmas and "blow" pass the PS4 before 2023.
So he was not far off with PSX and it's possible the Switch will pass PS4 by Christmas.
I was going to say that by even by the most optimistic Switch ales projections, that would be pretty damn optimistic. ;)
 

Spacefish

Member
If you combine Nintendo's handheld and console divisions they have always sold this well, I don't really understand how this is interpreted as a massive success when objectively its a bit of a step down from where they were.
 

Woopah

Member
If you combine Nintendo's handheld and console divisions they have always sold this well, I don't really understand how this is interpreted as a massive success when objectively its a bit of a step down from where they were.
Because that math never made any sense. Given that Switch has passed 3DS and Wii U I'm assuming that your "where they were" comment is a reference to DS + Wii (let me know if I'm wrong in this).

The issue with that is that hardware-wise the DS & Wii is 250 million units, and it is very very unlikely that any console (stationary, portable or hybrid) will reach that anytime soon, This is why we don't compare one platform to two platforms to judge its success.

For example, the PS4 is massive success. The fact that it didn't reach PS3 + PSP numbers or even just PS2 numbers does not take away from that.
 
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Spacefish

Member
Because that math never made any sense. Given that Switch has passed 3DS and Wii U I'm assuming that your "where they were" comment is a reference to DS + Wii (let me know if I'm wrong in this).

The issue with that is that hardware-wise the DS & Wii is 250 million units, and it is very very unlikely that any console (stationary, portable or hybrid) will reach that anytime soon, This is why we don't compare one platform to two platforms to judge its success.

For example, the PS4 is massive success. The fact that it didn't reach PS3 + PSP numbers or even just PS2 numbers does not take away from that.
Even when Nintendo was at its lowest (GameCube and wiiu era) the combination of both hardware sectors hovered around 100million, when you take into account the switch having one of the lowest attach rates of any nintendo console this generation feels like more of a moderate success or a side step than the massive financial breakthrough it is played up to be. (Though I guess it is harder to get your attach rate up when the number of console sales are combined)
 
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Woopah

Member
Even when Nintendo was at its lowest (GameCube and wiiu era) the combination of both hardware sectors hovered around 100million, when you take into account the switch having one of the lowest attach rates of any nintendo console this generation feels like more of a moderate success or a side step than the massive financial breakthrough it is played up to be.
But you keep combining platforms. No one would say that PS4 is a "side step" because it never hit PS2 + PSP numbers. The success of one platform is not judged by comparing its sales to two successful platforms. By the time it stops selling, the reason Switch will be a massive financial success for Nintendo is because it:

1. Will be 1st or 2nd in terms of hardware sales in Nintendo's history
2. Will be 1st in terms of software sales in Nintendo's history
3. Most importantly for financial success, it will be the most profitable platform in Nintendo's history
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Still, it's handheld vs home console. In that case Apple/iPhones have sold more "consoles", and it's a "handheld" gaming device.
Correct and if anything mobile devices are even more capable as home consoles than the Switch is.

It's a different market.
 
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Deerock71

Member
Even when Nintendo was at its lowest (GameCube and wiiu era) the combination of both hardware sectors hovered around 100million, when you take into account the switch having one of the lowest attach rates of any nintendo console this generation feels like more of a moderate success or a side step than the massive financial breakthrough it is played up to be. (Though I guess it is harder to get your attach rate up when the number of console sales are combined)
Are you stating the Gamecube and/or the Wii U ever even came close to sniffing 100 million in sales?!? And then with a straight face suggest the software sales on the Switch haven't completely BONECRUSHED software sales for those systems?
Go Away GIF
 

Woopah

Member
Still, it's handheld vs home console. In that case Apple/iPhones have sold more "consoles", and it's a "handheld" gaming device.
Correct and if anything mobile devices are even more capable as home consoles than the Switch is.

It's a different market.
PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox Series and Xbox One are all dedicated video games platforms. That's why the hardware sales of these platforms are compared by the various video game market trackers around the world, while other electronic devices like phones and PCs are not tracked by them.
 

MrA

Banned
Even when Nintendo was at its lowest (GameCube and wiiu era) the combination of both hardware sectors hovered around 100million, when you take into account the switch having one of the lowest attach rates of any nintendo console this generation feels like more of a moderate success or a side step than the massive financial breakthrough it is played up to be. (Though I guess it is harder to get your attach rate up when the number of console sales are combined)
Making stuff up huh? 3ds had an attach ratio of like 5 and wiiu like 7.8 switch is at 7.4 plus switches attach rate doesn't include dl only games, so it is probably higher than wiiu
Correct and if anything mobile devices are even more capable as home consoles than the Switch is.

It's a different market.
Keep telling yourself that, I expect maximum cope from you 2 if the switch outsells the ps2 , should be a laugh
 
The market has not got bigger, the core market has been around 160-180 million consoles each generation, and has been that way since the original Xbox and PS2, and you could argue Sony did so well because Microsoft were just coming into it, the very next generation the split was pretty much 50/50. When Jim Ryan said the market had gotten bigger I can only assume he was taking into account mobile and the wider mass market potential, not so sure the core will tap into that all that much though.

Nintendo are pretty much in their own market, and have been since the Wii/DS generation, adding their share to the core is misleading. The Switch's Success is an awesome feat considering the sales of the Wii U.


the market is any gamer from casual to hardcore, just between switch and PS4 they surpass your 180 million number, add to that xbox one, pc and mobile and you get an idea of the size of the industry
 
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Even when Nintendo was at its lowest (GameCube and wiiu era) the combination of both hardware sectors hovered around 100million, when you take into account the switch having one of the lowest attach rates of any nintendo console this generation feels like more of a moderate success or a side step than the massive financial breakthrough it is played up to be. (Though I guess it is harder to get your attach rate up when the number of console sales are combined)
Not true, the Nintendo Switch has a Tie ratio higher than five Nintendo platforms and lower than five, it is right in the middle. The current ratio is 7.33 and it is increasing with every quarter (last quarter was 12.69) and will likely increase to around 7.5 when we get Nintendo's financial report on thursday morning. By the end of it's life it could be around 9 because Tie ratio's always increase over time. This would be more impressive than the Gamecubes 9.59 Tie ratio because with Switch's huge install base comes far more casuals and a lower percentage of Whales that by hundreds of games

iLhq5rD.png
 
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