• The Switch has had a pretty successful first 20 months in the US, all things considered.
  • Normalized to average monthly data (for varying data periods), the Switch still performs pretty well.

This morning, Nintendo sent out one of its periodic brag-heavy business press releases, this time focusing on a strong start to the US holiday shopping season. In addition to updates on lifetime US sales for the 3DS family of systems (22 million), and recent Classic Edition systems (2.5 million for SNES Classic, 2 million for NES Classic), the release highlighted more than 8.2 million lifetime US sales for the Nintendo Switch (through November 26).

That sounds pretty impressive for a system that has just hit its 20-month anniversary on retail shelves, without even two full holiday seasons under its belt. But we wanted to figure out just how those sales stack up to the competition. So we tracked down some numbers for past consoles for comparison. As you can see, the Switch's US sales pace puts it in some pretty elite company:

  • 971,000: US sales of the Saturn in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 1.8 million: US sales of the PlayStation Vita in its first ~23 months on sale
  • 2.56 million: US sales of the original PlayStation in its first ~16 months on sale
  • 2.8 million: US sales of the Dreamcast in its first ~16 months on sale
  • 3.08 million: North American shipments of the Wii U in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 4.3 million: US sales of the GameCube in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 4.84 million: US sales of the PlayStation 3 in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 5.55 million: US sales of the original Xbox in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 5.92 million: US sales of the Xbox 360 in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 6.26 million: US sales of the Nintendo 64 in its first ~15 months on sale
  • 6.5 million: US sales of the Nintendo 3DS in its first ~21 months on sale
  • 6.7 million: US sales of the PlayStation Portable in its first ~21 months on sale
  • 8.2 million: US sales of the Nintendo Switch in its first ~20 months on sale, announced today
  • 8.6 million: US sales of the PlayStation 2 in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 9.22 million: US sales of the Nintendo DS in its first ~26 months on sale
  • 10.85 million: US sales of the Wii in its first ~20 months on sale
  • 11.95 million: US sales of the Game Boy Advance in its first ~20 months on sale

(Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from NPD US sales estimates, pulled from the following online sources: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6).)

Note that staggered release dates in the calendar year can mean some consoles enjoyed busier sales periods during their first months on sale. Also note that inconsistencies in publicly reported NPD numbers means the closest comparable time periods vary slightly for some of these consoles. We weren't able to find US or North America-specific numbers for the PS4 or Xbox One; if you know where they can be found, please pass them along and we'll update.

If you like these numbers, you might also be interested in last year's examination of the Switch's first nine months of worldwide sales, which comprised 10 million units.

Also, while we're here, here's how the Switch currently stacks up against the lifetime shipments of some other Nintendo hardware across all of North America (as reported in this handy Nintendo spreadsheet).

  • 6.49 million: Wii U
  • 12.94 million: GameCube
  • 20.63 million: Nintendo 64
  • 22 million: 3DS line (so far, US only)
  • 23.35 million: Super NES
  • 34 million: NES
  • 44.06 million: Game Boy/Color (combined)
  • 48.64 million: Wii
  • 59.93 million: Nintendo DS line

Original Article

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Ars Technica

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