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Nintendo Switch is the most popular gaming console of all time

Basically it's based on how many units sold per years in production


Nintendo Switch: 90.5 millions
Years in prod: 4
Units sold per year: 22.6

no other console comes close

Console / Units sold / years in prod / average

Nintendo DS = 154.9 / 9 / 17.21
PlayStation 4 = 116.44 / 8 / 14.56
PlayStation 5 = 13.4 / 1 / 13.4
PlayStation 2 = 157.68 / 12 / 13.14
PlayStation 3 = 87.41 / 9 / 9.71
Wii = 101.64 / 11 / 9.24

A lot more consoles in the link
 
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Marvel14

Banned
angry u mad GIF by Mayfly


Git yer Salt! Salt fer sale! Step right up and git yers...
 

elliot5

Member
kind of a weird measurement of popularity as the population has grown and gaming population has grown. But I guess those values are hard to measure so "relative" popularity for their time would be hard to compare. NS is selling like hotcakes tho and has no sign of letting up.
 
Based on the current chip situation it looks like the trend will continue ... but for how long? The Switch would need to get drastically cheaper to hit the top number, the PS2 and the DS were both down to $100 dollars by about 7-8 years in.
 
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Until it passes 155 million, no it's not.

You're comparing the average Switch sold in its first four years to the average of a console for an entire 9 years. You do realize consoles sell more units per year in the first four years than their last five, right?

Also the Switch is nearing the end of its FIFTH year on the market, not fourth.
 
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Ezquimacore

Banned
Wii is the outlier in that list. The others were not popular based on a huge super surge of "Must Have" product insanity that died on its ass.
That doesn't make any sense, even grandma know about the Wii and even the dog played the Wii. How old are you? That thing was even being played in hospital. So the time doesn't matter, it was popular as f and the most popular piece of hardware for a time.
 
That doesn't make any sense, even grandma know about the Wii and even the dog played the Wii. How old are you? That thing was even being played in hospital. So the time doesn't matter, it was popular as f and the most popular piece of hardware for a time.
I am 43. Thanks for asking. I am a Nintendo fan. I have all their consoles. I am not hating on anything. I am pointing out what actually happened. The wii was massive but by 2010 it was dead.
 
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Ezquimacore

Banned
I am 43. Thanks for asking. I am Nintendo fan. I have all their consoles. I am not hating on anything. I am pointing out what actually happened. The wii was massive but by 2010 it was dead.
Not arguing that but it was more of a culture shift. Wii was killed by Nintendo but more important, by smartphones. Smartphones were the new hot thing, so it was inevitable.
 

Sosokrates

Report me if I continue to console war
Until it passes 155 million, no it's not.

You're comparing the average Switch sold in its first four years to the average of a console for an entire 9 years. You do realize consoles sell more units per year in the first four years than their last five, right?

Also the Switch is nearing the end of its FIFTH year on the market, not fourth.

Even of the switch drops 40% it will still beat 155 million in 9yrs.
 
Not arguing that but it was more of a culture shift. Wii was killed by Nintendo but more important, by smartphones. Smartphones were the new hot thing, so it was inevitable.
I am not denying that did not factor into the death of the Wii, but I think the big issue was just that the Wii aged fast because it was an 480p console in a time when the Western world had all gone at least 720p. It could no longer get PS2 game ports and Nintendo themselves were not in a strong place to keep supporting it. The period between 2010 and 2014 is also the same time that Nintendo was in flux with moving all its staff in Japan into the new Kyoto buildings. I would love an inside story on how much chaos was going on at that time with relocations, Iwata's health and Japan recovering from the Tohoku Earthquake. That Nintendo made it through to make the Switch at all is a minor miracle.
 
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Vagswarm

Member
I'm more impressed with the DS, nearly selling what the PS2 did in 3 fewer years.

But like someone else mentioned, it's not fair to take an average of 12 years vs only the first 4 for the Switch.
 
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I'm more impressed with the DS, nearly selling what the PS2 did in 3 fewer years.
I mean.. really? They were like $100 a pop and they had a million different editions. People bought these things just for fun. There were so many that by the time the 3DS came out you could pick up a used DS for $10
 
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Vagswarm

Member
I mean.. really? They were like $100 a pop and they had a million different editions. People bought these things just for fun. There were so many that by the time the 3DS came out you could pick up a used DS for $10
Yes really. And so was the PS2 after a while. I bought mine for $150 after a few years. A lot of people bought it because it had a DVD player. Excuses mean nothing.
 
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Dr Bass

Member
That's ... one way to look at it.

But obviously we should wait until it's no longer for sale. If it stops selling for some reason, those averages will drop like a rock, and the total sales won't match up either.

The Switch is a great console IMO but this is ...

Premature!
 

leo-j

Member
Switch has fallen behind DS which peaked at 154 ish million. So, I def think releasing switch light (ds successor) and switch (Wii successor) has worked super well for Nintendo. I def see them doing well but the console is already down YOY.
 

Dream-Knife

Banned
GGEZ

But real talk, according to Nintendo the NES and SNES were discontinued in 2003. I never saw a new NES on store shelves after 1996, and the SNES after 1999.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Looks like Japan still sold NES till 2003. Who knew.


In Japan, however, Nintendo continued to sell the Famicom until September of 2003, when they stopped production of both the Famicom and Super Famicom. Due to the shortage of parts necessary for repair, Nintendo of Japan stopped repairing Famicom systems in October of 2007. The final licensed game for the Famicom before its discontinuation was Master Takahashi's Adventure Island IV in 1994.
 

Deerock71

Member
Wii is a weird animal. Most of its sales happened in its first 3 years. It dropped off a cliff. PS4 was steady for 5-6 years and has now dropped off the cliff.
The HD twins cut off the Wii's tail as HD TV adoption exploded, and PS4's tail got cosumed by the Switch, because it wanted to eat the PS4's tail.
Hungry Feed Me GIF
 
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