The Nintendo Switch has proven to be one of Nintendo's most successful consoles of all time, having set multiple records over its four-year lifespan. In May 2021, the Switch set another record by becoming the eighth best-selling console of all time, bumping the Xbox 360 down to ninth place according to VGChartz, which revealed the console's achievement in a blog post following its analysis of gaming hardware sales from the week of May 16, 2021.
The Nintendo Switch is estimated to have sold over 86.1 million units since it debuted in 2017 after a massive 407,230 bump from the week of May 16, 2021. The lifetime sales of the Xbox 360 totaled 85.8 million units, meaning the newest Nintendo console just nudged ahead of one of the most successful and well-remembered consoles of all time. While the Xbox 360 has now officially been moved to ninth place, there are still seven consoles with far more sales than the Switch.
Nintendo and Sony have a lot of presence in the rankings of the top console sales of all time. Nintendo holds second place with the DS, third place with the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, sixth place with the Wii, tenth place with the Game Boy Advance, and now eighth place with the Switch. Sony holds the number one spot with the PlayStation 2, fourth and fifth place with the PlayStation 4 and original PlayStation, and seventh place with the PlayStation 3. The Xbox 360 is currently the only non-Nintendo or Sony console that ranks in the top 10.
The Switch has harkened a new era of success for Nintendo after the lackluster sales and reception of the Wii U. It outsold the Nintendo 3DS, the PSP, and the Game Boy Advance earlier in 2021, and in 2020 it outsold the Nintendo 64 and the original NES and SNES consoles. With a new version of the Nintendo Switch on the way, an unnamed Pro version scheduled for release later in 2021, the console is very likely to eventually outsell several other consoles in the coming years.
The Nintendo Switch has regularly been far ahead of the sales of the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S – in May 2021, it beat the sales of the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S combined. Part of this wide difference in sales is due to the lack of supply for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, as there have been shortages worldwide since the consoles were first released. However, Nintendo appears to have kept up with demand more effectively than Microsoft or Sony, and it appears to be paying off.
Source: VGChartz