Switch tracking PS2

On mobile - apologies if this has been posted:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/11/putting-nintendo-switchs-8-2-million-us-switch-sales-in-context/?amp=1

Switch has sold over 8 million in US, which is roughly the same as PS2 at that same stage in its life.

Lots of caveats - and no PS4 stats? Still, it's nice to see it selling well

wierd they left the ps4 off.

still, that looks promising for switch. wii/ps2 both did 100M.

@xantufrog: As I expected. I would prefer if they compared current Switch sales to PS4's 2nd year sales.

Agreed, it would help put things into this gen's perspective.

Switch doesn't have long term legs. The PS2 had everything and was also a cheap DVD player

LOL right.... PS2 sold just because it was a cheap DVD player

Pretty impressive stats for the Switch. Nice to see.

Hmmm, didn't the original Wii outsold the PS2, right?

It had a stronger start in the US than the PS2, but Im pretty sure the PS2 outsold it by the end of their lifetimes. Wii dropped off pretty fast for its last couple years on the market. And globally its 101million for Wii vs 155million for PS2

Ain't that something, PS2 at the end turns out to be the most popular gaming console of it's time, I always thought the Wii could actually give PS2 a run for it's money but hey, at least it was close in the end.

@SolidGame_basic: The PS2 was sold for 50$ in Latin America at the end of its life

I hate to be “that” guy but surely the DRE of the PS2 has to account for some portion of the PS2’s overall sales.

@Archangel3371: does it matter?

Likewise you could argue that the 360's RRoD could factor in some extra sales.

@uitravioience: Maybe, maybe not. Still something I think should be taken into consideration.

@lebanese_boy: more than a few, I'd reckon. I didn't stick with it, but my two 360 friends who did "needed" to by a second and 3rd (so... 5 for two people...)

@lebanese_boy: Sure but this is a comparison between the Switch and PS2.

The nintendo DS is what tied the PS2. didnt surpass it though.

@Archangel3371: sales are sales.

@uitravioience: Well hey if that’s how you want to look at it then go right ahead, it’s a free world after all. :P

@Archangel3371: how else should I look at it?

Honestly, the real reason to buy a PS2 over the GameCube and OG Xbox was the fact that it was an affordable DVD Player. Especially in Japan, it was the DVD Player to get and ate up the market.

@uitravioience: Not saying you should look at it any way that you don’t want. It’s just something that I think should be taken into consideration. If you don’t then that’s fine is all I’m saying.

Lack of PS4 stats is due to the fact that we don't have comparable stats known publicly.

Proof that gamers are fine with paying for more for less and for more of the same.

Proof that gamers like good games.

You need to hide, now. You don't seem to realize how valuable salt mines are.

Good games can be found on every system.

@Pedro: "Proof that gamers are fine with paying for more for less and for more of the same."

Well they certainly are not paying that much for less games on the X1X and basically a rehash of the same exclusiveless console as before. Real gamers prefer games to counting pixels.

Everyone I know who has a PS4 also wants a switch.

It pays to be the alternative console.

even the N'gage?

It would be irrelevant data

The PS4 was $100 more than the Switch

The PS4 had direct competition with the X1, something the Swich didnt have

The PS4 kept having strong 3rd party support and, as the Wii has shown, bad 3rd party support means "no legs" for the years to come

Strong starts means shit. Its the finishers that count. The Xbox360 had a strong start. The PS3 had a really bad start yet a stronger finisher. The PS3 ended up surpassing it by the end

The Wii was having stronger sales than the PS2 in its first couple of years however the PS2 is still king with 50 million more sales, give or take

So, if you sheep really think the Switch will end up selling more or close to what the PS4 will sell by the end of their lifecycles, you're definitely delusional

Neat.

And as mentioned, there are a number of caveats. I don’t expect Switch to continue this sales momentum long-term, but it certainly has to make Nintendo fans rest easy knowing they aren’t under the same dire circumstances as the Wii U and GC.

Too bad Switch doesn't have 8 more years left to sell, this gen almost over. 2020 Switch is going to be ancient tech

The switch is already peaking in sales. It’s slowing down and will drop off hard in 2019. Game droughts will do that.

Surely Nintendo release a revised switch 2.0.

I think I was one of the lucky few who got a couple of RRoD but whose console still survived lol.

I had one 360 die on me, I didnt' need to buy a new one just a quick hop on a website and I was good with a new one coming at no cost.

lol yea right, ps4 cant even do 1080P 60fps and pro cant do 1440p 60fps at medium settings!

not to mention japanese developers mostly have shit graphics. switch will be fine.

next gen will be nothing but a resolution bump from 900P(ps4 vanilla) to maybe 1440P. maybe some fake 4k checkerboard at 30FPS high settings for the ps5 pro.

lol switch will be doing what its doing now.

The Switch in and of itself could push those numbers, but not with Nintendo’s management behind it.

They typically suffer the same cycle with each of their systems: there’s enthusiasm at the start, everyone says third parties will this time be with them, and it sells well initially. Then for the remaining years it’ll suffer Nintendo’s usual pattern of strong releases interspersed between long droughts due to the predictable absence of third part support which does nothing so well as to kill any momentum Nintendo’s games help foster. Sure, titles such as Pokemon, Kart and Smash push numbers well temporarily but they’re simply not enough to maintain steady sales that are required to reach such high LTD numbers.

Nintendo appears incapable of keeping their systems constantly moving forward in the marketplace. The needle jumps with big releases, and then falls back down for months at a time. If they desire better sales, they need to find a way to better retain momentum, and since they arrogantly dismiss third parties, it is on them to make up for their absence.

That's a lot of damage control big fella...

Switch already struggling to get most multiplats once next gen kicks off 3rd party support will dry up like MS exclusive line up this gen. Nintendo will be forced to push out another slightly more powerful replica and that will be the end of the Switch's run for sales...shades of Wii U.

Sad but it's clearly going to happen and you gone have to drop another $300-$400 for another under-powered upgrade starting from scratch.

@tgob89: "Switch already struggling to get most multiplats once next gen kicks off 3rd party support will dry up like MS exclusive line up this gen."

Two points: 1) you're mixing up multiplats with 3rd party support. It's getting great 3rd party support. In fact that seems to be geowing based on the number of releases this year.

2) it gets lots and lots of multiplats. By poor support you mean graphically intensive cinematic games.

I think that at this time the PS4 is tracking under the PS2,the PS2 arrived at 100 millions in 5 years 8 months,the PS4 is already 5 years so in 8 more months if it isn't on 100 millions is definitely tracking behind it,at the start it was tracking way over the PS2.

1 million in 24 hours and 4.2 millions in 1 month and a half was way over what the PS2 did in the same time,alto the PS2 release on Japan first in march and 7 months latter in US.

you mean how you bought two consoles this gen? ps4 and ps4 pro?

i dont think nintendo needs to release a switch pro but if they do then thats fine too right cows?

@tormentos: according to the link, it's almost toe-for-toe with the PS2 at this point in its life.

That being said - different prices (adjusted for inflation), different era, Wii actually sold way faster but then crashed so...

But it's certainly a good pace

Umm no dummy.

You don't need to buy 2 PS4 systems dimwit. Every PS4 game...plays on any version of PS4.

Swing and a miss, try again.

da ****? next gen isnt going to be as advanced as your peanut brain thinks it will be.

all games on switch pro would run on regular switch too. the pro will just be an option for those that like graphics. since you seem to think it will seem ancient graphically.

just like ps4 when 4k made 1080p look like shit you had to go out and buy another console in the same gen.

@Vatusus: LOL wow, so why can't we compare other consoles first starts? So, you say that Switch DOES have a chance surpassing PS4? Color me impress!

More like "Disc Read Error"

I myself bought two because my fat PS2 had that problem. I never had to buy a second Nintendo device because of hardware failure.

so it did have everything! even failing components to make you buy another lol