Not really a contest even if 3DS sales are combined with the Wii U's sales. 3DS+Wii U sales were about the same as the PS3's sales, and the Switch has outsold the PS4 by around 15 million and counting. If PS3 and Vita sales are combined the way 3DS and Wii U sales are combined, the increase in PS4 sales is 12 million units smaller.
Further factors - Sony may have bounced back from a relatively disappointing performance with the PS3, but they still did not come close to replicating the level of success they had with the PS2, falling about 40 million units short there and being slightly closer to the PS3's sales than the PS2's. Nintendo managed to massively outsell its previous biggest success with the Wii and it is still conceivable, though unlikely, that it will reach DS numbers, with the Switch being more profitable and selling far more games than the DS was. It's closer to the DS' numbers than the Wii's already and still selling.
It truly looked like Nintendo might be going the way of Sega for a while, whereas Sony was always a viable competitor even when the PS3 was struggling the most. A lot of Sony's success came from taking advantage of Microsoft's many mistakes with the XB1 to reestablish itself as the king of normal console gaming, conceding defeat in the handheld sphere entirely, whereas Nintendo couldn't take advantage of anyone else's mistakes and had to reinvent itself by itself to find a new place in the market and its current relevancy.
Last edited by h2ohno - on 07 January 2024
