As we reported yesterday, Nintendo has sold just under 151 million Switch units up to December 31 last year. Not bad, of course, and a feat only two other formats have ever achieved, namely Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2.
But how long did it take for each format to reach this milestone? Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad has now answered that question via Bluesky, where we learn that Switch sold dramatically much faster than PlayStation 2 did - but actually a little slower than Nintendo DS.
- Nintendo DS: 86 months
- Nintendo Switch: 94 months
- PlayStation 2: 133 months
The Nintendo DS was released in 2004 (the following year in Europe) and actually only had seven good years on the market. By the time it was replaced by the Nintendo 3DS in 2011, sales had slowed down considerably, reaching a total of just over 154 million units sold. The PlayStation 2, on the other hand, was released in 2000, and although the PlayStation 3 replaced it in 2006, the console continued to sell well for many years, and only after twelve years (in 2012) did the last manufactured unit roll off the production lines. By then, over 160 million units had been sold.
The Switch has currently sold 150.86 million units and is expected to be replaced this year by the Switch 2. It is likely to overtake the Nintendo DS during 2025, but it is unclear whether it will ever reach the same numbers as the PlayStation 2.
