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Forums - Sales - Global Hardware Mar 14-20 - Switch Sells Nearly 500,000 Units

IcaroRibeiro on 02 April 2021
Dulfite said:
yo33331 said:

No, it can't. PS2 all time king!

Yeah for various reasons that people don't consider often enough:

- If PS2 just played games it still would have sold really well, could even have been #1 all time still, but I suspect there were at least 10-20+ million buyers that got it just for DVD players.

- PS2 was cheap to make and buy and weaker than GameCube and Xbox.

- PS3 bombed hard out of the gate due to insane price so PS2 legs were fantastic.

- PS2 getting Wii/PSP ports also helped its legs.

- Launched a year before Xbox/GameCube. Also, Microsoft was new so most of the "hardcore" gamers already had insane loyalty towards PlayStation. They could have released PS2 with barely better visuals than 1 and it still would have outsold the original Xbox.

Switch won't get most of those benefits:

- It has no DVD/Blue Ray drive, nor is streaming heavily featured/advertised for it. People buy Switch's to play games, plain and simple.

- Designing the technology in the Switch to work in such a compact device was probably more expensive to develop than the Wii U and Wii. If I had to guess I'd say this cost more to design and manufacture than most modern Nintendo devices.

- We won't really know for a while how the successor does, so it's too early to tell if Switch 1 will get this benefit.

- Switch doesn't get many PS4/Xbox One ports, and will get considerably less Series X/PS5 ports.

- While it did launch years before the competition launched their next devices, even in 2017 the brand new Switch was considerably weaker than Xbox One and PS4, unlike the PS2 which launched and was much more powerful than N64.

In the end, I will be far more impressed with whatever sales Switch gets than I am with PS2, because it didn't receive non-gaming and coincidental benefits like PS2. Numbers from the hardware part of this site:

PS2 - 157.68

PS3 - 87.41

PS4 - 115.28

PS2 really does stand out, and if those coincidental reasons weren't the cause of it having such high sales, then we should expect to see similar sales of PS3 and PS4, but we don't. PS3 bombed by comparison. PS4, for as loved as the device was and as well as it did, came no where close to PS2 sales.

Console market when PS2 came out was smaller. Economic growth lead consoles being more accessible and affordable. Remember when PS2 was released only one home system ever has surpassed 100 million, PS1, and only one handheld, Game Boy, that needed over 10 years in the market plus a huge upgrade (Game Boy Color) to surpass 100 million too. I'm not sure if Switch surpassing PS2 sales is exactly more or less impressive than PS2 but I'm leaning towards less impressive

Switch pulling something more like 170-180 million copies though... that's another thing



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AJNShelton on 02 April 2021
IcaroRibeiro said:

Console market when PS2 came out was smaller. Economic growth lead consoles being more accessible and affordable.

Thank you.



Dulfite on 02 April 2021
IcaroRibeiro said:
Dulfite said:

Yeah for various reasons that people don't consider often enough:

- If PS2 just played games it still would have sold really well, could even have been #1 all time still, but I suspect there were at least 10-20+ million buyers that got it just for DVD players.

- PS2 was cheap to make and buy and weaker than GameCube and Xbox.

- PS3 bombed hard out of the gate due to insane price so PS2 legs were fantastic.

- PS2 getting Wii/PSP ports also helped its legs.

- Launched a year before Xbox/GameCube. Also, Microsoft was new so most of the "hardcore" gamers already had insane loyalty towards PlayStation. They could have released PS2 with barely better visuals than 1 and it still would have outsold the original Xbox.

Switch won't get most of those benefits:

- It has no DVD/Blue Ray drive, nor is streaming heavily featured/advertised for it. People buy Switch's to play games, plain and simple.

- Designing the technology in the Switch to work in such a compact device was probably more expensive to develop than the Wii U and Wii. If I had to guess I'd say this cost more to design and manufacture than most modern Nintendo devices.

- We won't really know for a while how the successor does, so it's too early to tell if Switch 1 will get this benefit.

- Switch doesn't get many PS4/Xbox One ports, and will get considerably less Series X/PS5 ports.

- While it did launch years before the competition launched their next devices, even in 2017 the brand new Switch was considerably weaker than Xbox One and PS4, unlike the PS2 which launched and was much more powerful than N64.

In the end, I will be far more impressed with whatever sales Switch gets than I am with PS2, because it didn't receive non-gaming and coincidental benefits like PS2. Numbers from the hardware part of this site:

PS2 - 157.68

PS3 - 87.41

PS4 - 115.28

PS2 really does stand out, and if those coincidental reasons weren't the cause of it having such high sales, then we should expect to see similar sales of PS3 and PS4, but we don't. PS3 bombed by comparison. PS4, for as loved as the device was and as well as it did, came no where close to PS2 sales.

Console market when PS2 came out was smaller. Economic growth lead consoles being more accessible and affordable. Remember when PS2 was released only one home system ever has surpassed 100 million, PS1, and only one handheld, Game Boy, that needed over 10 years in the market plus a huge upgrade (Game Boy Color) to surpass 100 million too. I'm not sure if Switch surpassing PS2 sales is exactly more or less impressive than PS2 but I'm leaning towards less impressive

Switch pulling something more like 170-180 million copies though... that's another thing

I understand what you are saying, and if they had comparable situations and sold the same, then yeah PS2 would be more impressive because the market was smaller. But PS2 had all these crazy coincidental benefits that PS3, PS4, and so far PS5 do not have, and Switch does not, so their situations aren't comparable. Switch would have to sell 100 million to be less exciting than PS2 sales. I'm personally far more impressed by PS3 and PS4 sales than I am PS2 again because of the benefits PS2 had.



AJNShelton on 02 April 2021

Dulfite said:

But PS2 had all these crazy coincidental benefits that PS3, PS4, and so far PS5 do not have, and Switch does not

How ? Why not ?



eva01beserk on 02 April 2021

Life span of the switch will determine if it can beat the ps2. With the track is on it definetly can as long as Nintendo suports it. If they ditch it for a switch 2 or what ever they call it then it dies right there. Switch neets lime 3 more years to do so. Can the switch be relevant by then? I think it will show its limitation by the end of this year.



It takes genuine talent to see greatness in yourself despite your absence of genuine talent.

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Kakadu18 on 02 April 2021

So close to 500k for the Switch is especially impressive because there was no big new release. I think MHR launch week is probably around 800k for the Switch, considering the 267k sales in Japan.

Let's see how long the Switch can stay above 400k.



Dulfite on 02 April 2021
Mar1217 said:
Dulfite said:

What could they possibly release in March 2022 that could produce such massive hardware sales like Animal Crossing 2020 and Monster Hunter 2021? I don't think Zelda would be it. It's a sequel game, so it's automatically doomed to do less than Breath of the Wild, plus many of the buyers of that game already have Switch's to they bought to play Botw on.

I'm thinking it will need to be some massive exclusive (at least to console) game we haven't seen on Switch before.

*Takes a big blunt*

*Exhale*

Have you ever thought of Switch Sports Resort ?

No way that moves hardware now days. I'm talking about some massive Nintendo ip made with a AAA budget, or some massive third party console exclusive from an ip that hasn't been on Nintendo in a long time, or not done properly in a while. Something gamer changer. Like if Nintendo made a AAA PG cyberpunk open world game. Or if some studio made a AAA Narnia RPG for Switch. Some other third party console exclusive ideas that could be flipping massive:

- An exclusive GTA. If GTA 6 is too difficult to port to Switch, then make a lower sauce game maybe with a T for teen rating and watch it sell like crazy.

- 007 Goldeneye 2. Not some lazy HD texture bump. I mean a full blown sequel with modern graphics, brand new maps, story, new high quality voice actors.

- Exclusive Witcher game. Make it in a brand new engine. I know 3 on Switch was an amazing feat, but it still looks so much worse than many other stylish art styled games look, so make it a unique story and change the art style up a lot to take advantage of Switch's strength.

* I pretty much am certain that of any of the above games were made with the quality I'm talking about they would sell 10+ million copies.



curl-6 on 02 April 2021
eva01beserk said:

Life span of the switch will determine if it can beat the ps2. With the track is on it definetly can as long as Nintendo suports it. If they ditch it for a switch 2 or what ever they call it then it dies right there. Switch neets lime 3 more years to do so. Can the switch be relevant by then? I think it will show its limitation by the end of this year.

I agree that whether it passes PS2 depends on how long it's supported for, but I don't agree that it'll hit any kind of hard limits by the end of this year.

People don't buy the Switch for graphics or the latest AAA blockbusters, and it was behind on power from day 1, so it's hardware being outpaced won't kill its sales.

It will stop selling when Nintendo stops supporting it, no sooner.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 02 April 2021

eva01beserk on 03 April 2021
curl-6 said:
eva01beserk said:

Life span of the switch will determine if it can beat the ps2. With the track is on it definetly can as long as Nintendo suports it. If they ditch it for a switch 2 or what ever they call it then it dies right there. Switch neets lime 3 more years to do so. Can the switch be relevant by then? I think it will show its limitation by the end of this year.

I agree that whether it passes PS2 depends on how long it's supported for, but I don't agree that it'll hit any kind of hard limits by the end of this year.

People don't buy the Switch for graphics or the latest AAA blockbusters, and it was behind on power from day 1, so it's hardware being outpaced won't kill its sales.

It will stop selling when Nintendo stops supporting it, no sooner.

Sure Nintendo games is the main reason the NS sells. But there's a part third party plays on it. While I agree that it wont die cuz new gen is firing up by then some slow down will occur. Could be minimal if some great games launch. 



It takes genuine talent to see greatness in yourself despite your absence of genuine talent.

kazuyamishima on 03 April 2021
eva01beserk said:
curl-6 said:

I agree that whether it passes PS2 depends on how long it's supported for, but I don't agree that it'll hit any kind of hard limits by the end of this year.

People don't buy the Switch for graphics or the latest AAA blockbusters, and it was behind on power from day 1, so it's hardware being outpaced won't kill its sales.

It will stop selling when Nintendo stops supporting it, no sooner.

Sure Nintendo games is the main reason the NS sells. But there's a part third party plays on it. While I agree that it wont die cuz new gen is firing up by then some slow down will occur. Could be minimal if some great games launch. 

It’s more about saturation than anything, just like every console there is a maximum to be sold. Even with price cuts. New revisions can increase sales a little bit, but is not like keep releasing new games over and over will keep the system selling forever.

Also, Bigger games from the same studio tend to release a few years apart from each other.
Also, one of the main advantages about the switch is that Nintendo was able to re-release WiiU games on the switch and squeeze a lot of sales. 

And nowadays, the price of the switch is cheap. 

Last edited by kazuyamishima - on 03 April 2021