The Nintendo Switch is likely to outsell the PlayStation 2 in terms of lifetime sales in the US.
That’s according to Mat Piscatella, a video game industry analyst at Circana. In a post to X / Twitter, Piscatella wrote: “In the US, PS5 is still 7% ahead of PS4 LTD and Switch is only 1.1M units behind PlayStation 2 in lifetime sales.”
He adds that things aren’t looking too bad for Xbox Series consoles, either, saying they’re “holding close to Xbox 360’s LTD pace (and will get a CF25 boost).” In a follow-up post, Piscatella hints that this is likely to be an interesting conversation to “revisit in a couple weeks.”
The Nintendo Switch being on track to outsell the PS2 in the US in terms of lifetime sales does line up with Nintendo’s recently-published financial results for Q1 2024. As of June 30, the Nintendo Switch family of consoles has collectively shifted around 143.42 million units globally. This isn’t a million miles away from the PS2’s global lifetime sales, which are reported to be around 155-160 million units.
Nintendo Switch hardware sales may be on the decline (as evidenced by its Q1 2024 financial results), but it’s clear the console has had an extraordinary amount of staying power ever since it launched in March, 2017.
It also seems that, even with the tentatively-named Nintendo Switch 2 expected to launch next year, the Kyoto-based manufacturer still plans to support the Switch for some time to come.
For example, Metroid Prime 4 Beyond was finally revealed at the June 18 Nintendo Direct, slated for a 2025 release on Nintendo Switch. This has led many to speculate it could be a cross-platform launch title much like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was back in 2017, with that game also launching on the Wii U.
