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Cerebralbore101 on 13 May 2025
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Pemalite said:



People have already moved to PC and Mobile, they are the largest gaming platforms.

Difference with those platforms is they aren't locked, closed, ecosystems, there are ways to retain your games library when services shut down.


I would argue Nintendo has "declined" from it's peak with the DS+Wii console era... Where they had a combined sales of 154 million consoles with the DS and 101 million consoles for the Wii for a combined 255~ million consoles. - Switch is likely to come up 80-100 million consoles short of that number.
That's a collective decline... Sony declined since the PS2 with an uptick at their competitors expense with the PS4/PS5, Xbox since the Xbox 360.
The console market isn't growing... And higher hardware prices will ensure it doesn't going forth.

But it's also been a blessing for the consumers as Nintendo has been able to invest it's time and effort into one platform, one set of game releases

It's not as simple as number go up, therefore good. Investors and Analysts like Pachter like to see it that way but those same investors and analysts predicted that Switch would be lucky to hit 40 million.

Wii and DS sold a lot combined in part because you needed both systems to have a full Nintendo library. In part because the DS Lite was insanely cheap at $130, and multiple kids in the same household wanted one. In part because Pokémon games were actually Fire back then. In part because as a mostly 2D system, the library of the DS kept getting amazing releases daily. And finally, in part because the Wii was a fad and also insanely cheap at $250, with a free game included.

The top ten best-selling DS games sold roughly 172 million combined. And the top ten best selling Wii games sold roughly 217 million (not counting Wii Sports pack-in, but counting pack-ins for the other top 4). The top ten best-selling Switch games sold roughly 308 million combined. Unlike the Wii and DS games, Switch games in the top ten rarely went on sale or were packed in. Switch games are also sold for a full $60 unlike DS games selling at $40.

But what's most important here is that unlike the Wii, which burned customers the Switch will retain customers. Tons of people bought a Wii, used it for six months and then put it in the attic or bought a few pieces of shovelware for $15 a pop.

As for PS2, you can't compete with the GOAT and something that doubled as a DVD player.

As for Xbox, they are intentionally destroying their console sales. Lots of people back during the 360/PS3 era owned both. Now there's no need to own both and most people just have a PS5 for a non-Nintendo gaming console.

To sum it up, the console market hasn't shrunk at all. Pachter and company just don't know how to take anything into account outside of "number goes up therefore good" and "number goes down therefore bad".