Switch Ships 141.32 Million Units as of March 2024

[XtremeBG]

HebrewGamer said:

The PS2 was on the market for 12 years and was selling for as low as $100 by the end of its lifecycle and was half off its debut price only 4 years in. Switch has sold 140M plus without a price cut or a DVD player. PS2 sold 155 or so units lifetime without any of their games selling 20 million copies.

The sales record is for the fanbase as the Switch long surpassed the success of the PS2.

This is so irrelevant. When you reach success in life, there is no matter how or in what way. You just reached it. Of course there will be people that reached it in different ways or time. The fact is they reached it. You can't neglate the fact just because you give some reasons. Everything has a reason for it's succes. Switch for example didn't have any direct competition, while PS2 had. Switch went through a pandemic where sales of consoles in general boosted. Switch was the only console Nintendo had to maintain since 2017 (they did 3DS too, but even in those years after 2017, it was like 20% of their work, they almost exclusively concentrated on the Switch) While Sony had maintained a total of 4 consoles during the PS2 life on the market. There is also no need of DVD or some innovating media because for a handheld you don't need that. Also the times are so different. Now you can obviously went on to sell many units from one console without pricecut or 1 at most. Back then you needed pricecuts and you could afford them almost every year. Also the Switch Lite is version of price cut. Yes it's not the full Switch experience however how much of the people really use both the modes extensively in a long period of time and how much bought it because 1 of them or to use both of them is unclear, and although the Lite model is only handheld, it is still playing the Switch games and it is still a cheaper alternative. So it's not like there hasn't been a price cut at all. Just another version of it, not the traditional one. Also let's not forget the inflation. It's much more cheaper to buy 300$ console now or even 1-2-3 years ago than it was 2017. The inflation wasn't so big in the 2000s with PS2. This is like second price cut effect. PS2 sold 160M or close to it also. Don't lowball the final result. Yes it sold less gaming copies per game but it sold more software lifetime. Even if Switch reach the lifetime software number we live in a different time. Software is much more affordable and we also have digital sales as well which are way easier for people, than only the disc copies back then. Also the digital versions very often are way way cheaper and are way more often on sale. Of course if PS2 as successful as it was was selling now (not the same console with the old hardware of course) the software sales would be much higher than they were back then. The fan base is very subjective thing. You can't really measure a fanbase and say which is bigger. However the sales lifetime you can. For the moment Switch is still in 3rd place and there is no guarantee if it will pass the PS2. But I know one thing. It's very easy to sit there and to throw some reasons at only the 1 console. and to not give it any credit, and only praise the other one. You can find a better things in a given console even if it is much lower selling one. Because they are different. Every machine has a prons and cons. But you can't deny a success or excuse it because of this and that. Does it happened ? It does, then no matter what it is where it is. Just like there is different people with different strong sides and weak sides, there are the consoles, and every other tech if you want.

Last edited by XtremeBG - on 12 June 2024