Nintendo Switch Hits Major Sales Milestone In The US
Nintendo's handheld Switch series of consoles has touched yet another remarkable sales milestone, cementing its legacy as one of the most successful hardware offerings in the Japanese company's history. According to data compiled by Games Industry Biz, the lifetime sales tally of the Switch family in the United States has eclipsed the figures clocked by the Nintendo Wii as of July 2023. It is now roughly a million units short of overtaking the Xbox 360 and trails the venerable PlayStation by less than five million in the U.S. market.
According to Statista estimates, the global sales of the Xbox 360 stand close to 86 million, while the PlayStation 2 sits far ahead at 158 million units globally. As of June, the Nintendo Switch has sold over 129 million units globally. To put that into perspective, the PlayStation 2 was launched in 2000, and Sony continued to manufacture it for 12 years before production was officially halted in 2013, giving it one of the longest lifespans among gaming consoles.
Microsoft ended production of the Xbox 360 in 2016 after a decade-long run, while the Xbox 360 video game marketplace will continue to be operational until next year. Nintendo, on the other hand, launched the Switch in 2017, following it up with a Lite model in 2019 and an OLED screen refresh late in 2021. In seven years, the Switch has not only outsold the Xbox 360 globally, but it is also close to surpassing Sony's PlayStation 2 in America.
Success against odds
Nintendo's feat is impressive for multiple reasons. The average nominal price of AAA video games has steadily gone up since 2000, according to ArsTechnica. On top of that, Nintendo games tend to be rather expensive. Even remastered versions of old games like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward cost a steep $60.
The "Switch Tax" is a well-known trope on Nintendo's side of the gaming ecosystem. One rational argument is that developers have to put in a lot of effort and resources at porting over their games for Nintendo's platform, but the company itself charges a bomb for first-party games, banking on the nostalgia associated with franchises like Zelda and Mario. Yet, despite the financial odds stacked against them, Nintendo games sell like hotcakes, and so do the Switch consoles.
"Switch has also continued to perform strongly in 2023, helped by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom," reports the Games Industry Biz article. But Nintendo has a hardware cost advantage going in its favor. The Switch Lite only starts at $199 and is ready to boot for that price. The Xbox Series S starts at $249, but you would need to spend extra for a screen to play games, while the PlayStation 5 starts at $400 for the digital-only version and comes with the same peripheral expenditure caveat.