Nintendo Switch Surpasses Game Boy, PS4 in Lifetime Sales

(Photo: Alvaro Reyes/Unsplash)

(Image: Alvaro Reyes/Unsplash) Nintendo published its nine-month earnings report this week, and hidden within the document is a major milestone. Switch sales have officially surpassed those of the Game Boy and the PlayStation 4—two of the world’s most popular video game consoles.

Nintendo has sold 122.55 million Switch consoles since the system’s debut back in March 2017. That’s nearly 4 million more units than the iconic Game Boy (118.69 million) and over 5 million more than Sony has pulled off with the PS4 (117.2 million). Today, the Nintendo Switch stands just second in popularity to the Nintendo DS, 154.02 million of which found their way into people’s hands in the 2000s and 2010s.

The standard Switch has remained the most popular Switch model, making up 72% of the console’s lifetime sales as of December 2022. The Switch Lite covers about 17% of Switch sales, leaving the OLED model at a seemingly measly 11%. But of all Switch models, the OLED has gained the most demand as of late. OLED sales nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, signaling what some believe to be a building desire for a more technologically modern version of the Switch.

(Image: Nintendo)

Nintendo owes much of the Switch’s success to its first-party, Switch-exclusive games. The company sold 20.61 million copies of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet between March 31 and Dec. 31, 2022; in the same period, it sold 10.13 million copies of Splatoon 3. Nintendo Switch Sports, Nintendo’s latest version of the highly popular Wii Sports, sold 8.61 million copies during those nine months. These numbers, combined with a 21.5% increase in Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions year-over-year, suggest that gamers’ loyalty to the Switch ecosystem remains strong.

That said, Nintendo didn’t sell as many Switch units over the 2022 holiday season as it originally anticipated. As a result, it’s slashed its original FY2023 sales estimate of 19 million Switch units down to 18 million. It also forecasts 205 million software sales, rather than its original 210 million estimate.

With more Switch exclusives like Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4 coming out this year, Nintendo fans can likely expect the console’s sales count to inch closer to the DS. Nintendo itself is certainly doing its part to generate hype, announcing early Tuesday that it’ll be hosting its first Direct event of 2023 on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

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