Switch is just 1.1 million away from overtaking the PS2's lifetime sales in the US

https://www.vgchartz.com/article/461990/ps5-is-tracking-7-ahead-of-the-ps4-in-the-us-switch-is-11m-behind-lifetime-ps2-sales/

Also, with PS5's quarterly update now out, Switch moved just 300k (or a little over 10%) less units than PS5 for Q1; given the age difference between the two systems, it really goes to show how impressive Switch's legs are.

It is nice and all, but shipments have an ebb and flow. If Sony or Nintendo overships or underships, things can seem strange. For example Q4 and Q1 combined (Calendar Year), Switch is just over 4m. PS5 is at 6.9m.

Averaged out to 2m for each quarter for the Switch and 3.45m for the PS5. Or just over 72%. 72% is quite the massive difference, considering the Switch is still the main console for Nintendo. Just goes to show what a difference a quarter makes.

I was specifically talking about this reported quarter, not the last two quarters.

My point was never that Switch is rivalling PS5 in rate of sales, just that its doing well relative to its advanced age; it's older now than the PS4 was when the PS5 released.

Yes, I know you were cherry picking the data for this specific quarter. Hence, the reverse cherry picking for added context.

Bottom line is that it wouldn't be doing that relatively well without the context of the last quarter. Switch is still Nintendo's main console with brand new games still coming out. There hasn't been any data on Nintendo's new console, while the PS4 had to contend with PS5 and global stock shortages. Switch has many advantages, despite the age.

I actually think you're downplaying a bit. I mean, 2.1M is almost what the DS sold it's entire 8th fiscal year (2.35M) and Switch did it in one quarter.

Sure, Switch is the main console for Nintendo still, but if we contextualize this further we see that it's not just a good result for it's 8th FY quarter, it's a pretty good result in it's own merit. 2.1M this Q1 is better than any Q1 the 360 or 3DS ever had. It's better than all but 1 Q1 for the PS3. It beats the Wii's 5th FY Q1 (before the Wii U was officially revealed). Also it beats PS4's 7th FY Q1 (PS5 wasnt announced until Q2, so PS4 was still the main console), let alone it's 8th and, let's not forget, the pandemic BOOSTED video game spending significantly, and almost doubled software sales for the PS4 during that Q1, and definitely pushed some hardware before we began seeing significant shortages.

Outside of the GB and PS2, we haven't seen legs like this, and I don't really see how PS5 having a great Q4 result changes that. 

Actually PS5 was announced in late 2018, so 5 years after the PS4 launch, long before PS4 turned 7 years and a half, like the Switch is now.

The point for me is that every console has different situations to contend with, you can't just compare age.

Wii for example had incredibly bad legs, perhaps due to Nintendo's desire to kill it.

PS4 was affected by Sony's desire to move on.

PS5 had a forced great Q4, intentionally overshipped to try and meet their FY target that they missed so badly. This affected the ensuing Q1.

I know for me, in my analysis of console hardware and predictions, that I will be looking at "year as major console" and "year(s) before the next major console was revealed" as major factors from now on rather than just "years old".

I suppose I really meant "revealed". I mean, Switch 2 was also announced a whole ago, but I think the actual reveal is the impact full event that changes sales trajectory much more significantly. 

It's not "cherry picking" to compare a quarter's sales in the thread dedicated to that quarter's sales.

And again you're misunderstanding; I wasn't comparing it to PS4's sales at the same age, simply providing context as to just how old it is. Its successor has also been soft-announced for a reveal this FY, so people know it's not far off.

It's selling well in context, that's all I'm saying.

I find some of what you're saying to be a bit of a truism. Does every console have different situations to contend with? Of course, that's why some consoles sell very well and other don't. Marketing, economic state, pricing, software, brand recognition, hardware, features, etc. All of these things impact sales, sometimes in less predictable ways. But I don't think diminishing the accomplishment of Switch's 8th year sales is very fair just because it has had different circumstances than the PS4, PS5, Wii, or any other console. I mean, the fact is that the Switch could have not sold this well at all. It overcame it's own hurdles too, from coming off of the lowest selling portable console and home console that Nintendo had released, being significantly less powerful than it's competition and barely more powerful than the Wii U (which, again, was a sales dud and many point to the hardware as a major factor in that), having less features than it's competition, and, let's not forget, chip shortages and the current economic state also affect the Switch. 

Also, Nintendo isn't releasing the Switch 2 just yet in part BECAUSE the Switch is selling so well still. I mean, console sales and console life before the successor releases are correlated (it's not 1:1, but it's more often than not that a poorly selling console is replaced quickly). So if you are going to excuse a consoles high sales because of factoring in when it was replaced you are, to some extent, reversing cause and effect. 

I don't disagree with you in that I also don't believe sales should be just be looked at in a vacuum, but I also don't think that context takes away from the accomplishment. It's like when people say "The PS2 sold well because it was a cheap DVD player". Yeah, that may have contributed to sales, but, also, what a hell of a good tactic by Sony to get some extra sales and potentially convert people to being gamers. PS4 didn't sell as well as it could have? Well, that's because Sony didn't make the right decisions to give it that extra push. Wii sales fell off a cliff? Maybe they wouldn't have if Nintendo would have pushed more high quality software at the end of it's life or changed their advertising focus to gather more core gamers.