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Forums - Sales Discussion - VGChartz Gap Charts January 2021 Discussion Thread

Switch needs roughly 3.5 million within the next 3 months to keep the lead after Wii 2010 holiday season. It is 13 weeks, so Switch needs an average of 270k/week. Should be rather easy as long as nintendo can deliver enough Switches. ;)



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trunkswd said:

Look at that drop December to January! The cliff is HERE!



Signature goes here!

So Switch remains 3 months ahead of the Wii, a month after the holiday season. With just the one big holiday season left for Wii, Switch might be ahead permanently if supply doesn't bottleneck. Switch only needs to keep the lead for the next four months and then Wii runs out of gas.

Man, imagine going back to 2015 and trying to convince people that the Wii U's successor would outsell the Wii...



trunkswd said:

Share the article here.

Switch vs Wii Sales Comparison – Switch Lead Tops 5M in January 2021

This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo Wii.

It's funny that the Switch had a ~12m deficit against the Wii at one point.  But the reality is that no system can beat the Wii in the short term.  Switch took longer to get going, but it peaked higher than the Wii.  That's really a much healthier sales curve.  The Wii has almost no gas left in the tank from this point on, but the Switch still has lots of life left in it.



trunkswd said:

Share the article here.

PS4 and Xbox One vs PS3 and Xbox 360 Sales Comparison – January 2021

This monthly series compares the combined aligned sales of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with the combined aligned sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Gap change in latest month: 719,611 - PS3 & X360

Gap change over last 12 months: 7,174,013 - PS3 & X360

Total Lead: 6,527,771 - PS4 & XOne

Total Combined PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Sales: 158,037,805

Total Combined PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Sales: 164,565,576

In January 2021, the gap grew in favor of the combined sales of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 when compared to the aligned launch of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the last month by 719,611 units. In the last 12 months, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have caught up by 7.17 million units. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One lead by a combined 6.53 million units.

The 87th month for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is January 2021, while for the Xbox 360 it is January 2013 and for the PlayStation 3 it is January 2014. This does mean the holiday periods for all four consoles are lined up.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in their first 87 months sold a combined 158.04 million units, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have sold a combined 164.57 million units. It took until month 97 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 to sell as many units as the current PS4 and Xbox One sales.

The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sold a combined 173.22 million units lifetime. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are currently 8.65 million units away from surpassing the PS3 and X360.

For a while there this looked like a slam dunk for PS4 + Xbone but with their legs proving shorter than expected I'm now leaning towards PS360. Still, it's far from a done deal and could still go either way.



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Gap change in latest month: 191,638 - DS

Gap change over last 12 months: 86,672 - Switch

This race is a marathon and not a sprint.  DS has a lot of speed at this point, but Switch just needs to stay reasonably close, which you can see it's doing from the two numbers I copied above.  DS is going to get a decent lead after its respective holiday, but that won't be a big factor in the long run.  The bigger factor is legs over the next several years.



trunkswd said:

Share the article here.

Switch vs PS4 Sales Comparison – January 2021

This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4.

Insert joke about the cliff finally being here, but Switch climbing it rather than falling off it. :P

I almost wish quickrick was still around to see this haha.

Seriously though, tracking almost 14 million ahead of the 4th highest selling system of all time is incredible.



I remember mentioning middle of last year, that if Switch kept it's momentum it should reach 100M units a full year ahead of the PS4 (launch-aligned). Looks to still be on track.



trunkswd said:

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Switch vs 3DS and Wii U Sales Comparison - January 2021

This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide Nintendo Switch sales with the combined Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U sales.

Switch Vs. 3DS and Wii U Global:

Gap change in latest month: 1,163,970 - Switch

Gap change over last 12 months: 16,679,60 - Switch

Total Lead: 16,462,638 - Switch

Switch Total Sales: 78,631,440

3DS and Wii U Total Sales: 62,168,802

January 2021 is the 47th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Switch by 1.16 million units when compared to the combined sales of the 3DS and Wii U during the same timeframe. In the last 12 months, the gap has grown in favor of the Switch by 16.68 million units. The Switch leads by 16.46 million units.

The 3DS launched in February 2011 (however, 3DS sales have been aligned to March 2011, since it only launched at the end of February in Japan), the Wii U launched in November 2012, and the Nintendo Switch launched worldwide in March 2017. The holiday periods between the Switch and 3DS lineup, however, the Wii U holiday is offset from the Switch.

The 47th month for the Nintendo Switch is January 2021, for the Nintendo 3DS it is January 2015 and for the Wii U it is July 2016. The Switch has sold 78.63 million units, while the 3DS and Wii U have sold 62.17 million units during the same timeframe. The 3DS and Wii U did not reach current Switch sales until month 74.

The 3DS and Wii U have sold 89.48 million units lifetime. The Switch is 10.85 million units behind the 3DS and Wii U.

So Switch is ahead of Wii U + 3DS by a Dreamcast + Saturn.



The Wii was an absolute monster in America so it's unsurprising that the Switch isn't quite keeping pace. The thing is, Wii is about to have, launch aligned, it's last big holiday season, whereas Switch likely has multiple years of strong sales left in it.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 24 February 2021