Speaking of concrete data, looks like we won't even be getting rough estimates from the usual sources. Mat from NPD elected to not share anything useful this month outside the official report.

I hate how U.S. sales data has gotten more opaque over the past 10-15 years. I mean, Famitsu, a freaking video game magazine, has been putting out weekly sales data for free since the 90s (and weekly sales data tells us a lot more than monthly does). But that's Japan. I guess here in the good old US of A, everything gaming related has to come with a price tag today. The game industry itself is notoriously money-grubby and opaque, so I guess that tracks (remember when cosmetic items were free and could be unlocked through gameplay?). The film industry has been reporting film grosses for decades. TV has Nielsen ratings (though that's becoming increasingly useless as streaming replaces linear TV and data becomes less available; I guess Nielsen never figured out how to restructure their surveys to account for streaming). RIAA and other music industry groups have their certifications, and we know how much most notable albums sell in multiple countries, at least approximately. Even NPD used to give out console sales data and at least Top 10 software data every month for free many years ago.

I mean, I get the rationale from NPD/Circana's perspective. They're a giant for-profit market research company, not a video game magazine. If American plebs knew how much their favorite consoles sold and could get the data for free, then why would any company buy the data for ten grand a pop every month (or however much a report is)? NPD/Circana enjoys their monopoly and takes full advantage of it. With an industry like video games, I guess getting sales data for free was too good to last. That's crapitalism for you. I just hope the film industry doesn't follow suit and puts data about film grosses behind a paywall only companies and people with very deep pockets can afford and where they and any employees privy to the reports must swear an oath of secrecy (i.e., a "non-disclosure agreement" in lawyer-speak). I also hope Famitsu doesn't go out of business, because that's about all we get these days outside of quarterly reports (and even that's not always published publicly; MS has been cagey about their data for over a decade now).

People do have legitimate reasons for caring about sales data. It isn't just a nerdy obsession or fodder for some pointless argument (though it can be and often is those things). For example, people considering investing in an expensive piece of gaming hardware might want to know how well it's selling, because if it's a flop it might not get the full support of the industry, or it could be discontinued prematurely. People thinking about buying Console A might want to know if it's taken a sudden nose dive in sales in recent months as a result of certain shifts in corporate strategy. Or maybe they might want to know what game is most popular and therefore where the most players are when deciding on buying some social game ("Oh crap. That online game that looked cool tanked. I probably shouldn't buy it."). Conversely, it can be used to highlight a well-regarded title that's struggling and maybe put more eyeballs on it ("Hey. You wanted more games like this? If they keep flopping then more won't get made. Go out and buy this one!").

It's like how if someone is considering investing time into a TV show, they might want to know how popular it is, because if its ratings are lackluster then it might not be renewed for another season and therefore it might not get a proper ending if it was planned to run for multiple seasons, and that person may feel they wasted their time as a result. Or for something where a lot of money is on the line, if they're in the market for a new vehicle, they might want to know how popular a given model is, because it's entirely possible an automobile they're considering might be very unpopular and therefore at risk of being discontinued, which might not bode well for things like replacement parts being available in ten years time (or tech support being available, for cars with a bunch of electronic gadgets).

It's not just the suits in corporate that should be privy to how much their wares sell. Customers ought to be able to know more about the things they buy, for very practical reasons. They have time and money on the line as well, and may want to be better informed. I get something like a food company's recipes being confidential (can't have the competition knowing the exact nature of the Colonel's twelve herbs & spices). But sales data? Nah. Shouldn't be a commodity with a price tag of its own attached to it.

Anyway, it's stuff like this that makes me want to give up even discussing sales anymore. It's kinda pointless without getting much in the way of good data outside of Japan, which is a smaller part of the market than it used to be, especially for home consoles. Wouldn't be the first time I felt like giving up on it (for different reasons in the past).

I'm surprised Xbox surpassed Switch in North America for this period given that Xbox Series is a sinking ship but in all fairness Switch 2 is a thing now. Also, Switch like Xbox is increasing in price in the Americas more severely than PlayStation recently has.
In any region, but especially in North America, Switch 2 and PS5 are much better purchases than Xbox Series or Switch.