Nintendo Quarterly Sales Update: Switch at 139.36m shipped

[haxxiy]

curl-6 said:

haxxiy said:

An early launch for the next Xbox would be more like the Mega Drive or the Dreamcast... neither of which really worked in the end.

Launching ahead of the competition actually worked really well for the Megadrive; by leapfrogging the NES and getting a head start on the SNES they managed to gain a lot of market share, and they were actually outselling the Super Nintendo for much of the 4th generation, until Nintendo got a second wind in its later life with games like Donkey Kong Country.

A lot of the earlier Mega Drive sales were due to Sonic fever, though. It was eclipsed by SMB3 before that. It probably would have sold just as well had it come a year later (assuming the games weren't delayed too).