Nintendo Switch becomes third-best selling console

Nintendo has revealed that its popular hybrid console has become the third best-selling console of all time, surpassing the PS4 and the Game Boy.

Nintendo’s popular hybrid console, the Switch, has become the third best-selling console of all time as it enters its seventh year on the market.

Nintendo released its third quarter financial earnings report today, which primarily covered sales made during the holiday period, from October 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022. During that time, the hybrid console sold about 8 million units, bringing it up to a lifetime unit sales number of 122.55 million.

This made the lifetime sales of the console surpass the PlayStation 4, which sold 117 million units, and the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, which collectively sold 118 million units.

Above the Switch now is the Nintendo DS, at 154 million units sold, and the PlayStation 2, at 155 million units. Nintendo has yet to announce a successor to the Switch, so it’s possible the console will become the best-selling console of all time, but it is unlikely.

The enhanced OLED variant of the Nintendo Switch was the best selling model last quarter, selling more than the basic and Lite models combined. Picture: Nintendo

The Nintendo Switch has been wildly successful since its launch in 2017, outselling the PS4 and Xbox One between 2017 and 2020, and the PS5 and Xbox Series in the years since. That’s despite the latter two consoles being significantly more powerful and much more recent.

The PlayStation 5 is currently the eighteenth best-selling console of all time, with 32 million units sold, while the Xbox Series S and X have collectively sold 12 million units, placing them in the twenty-sixth spot.

Here are the top ten best-selling consoles:

1. PlayStation 2 - 155 million
2. Nintendo DS - 154 million
3. Nintendo Switch - 122 million
4. Game Boy & Color - 118 million
5. PlayStation 4 - 117 million
6. PlayStation - 102 million
7. Nintendo Wii - 101 million
8. PlayStation 3 - 87 million
9. Xbox 360 - 84 million
10. Game Boy Advance - 83 million

Half of the top ten best selling video game consoles throughout history have been developed by Nintendo. Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images/AFP

While the Switch has been successful, it hasn’t been without its issues. Many have complained about the console’s pack-in controllers, saying that they tend to develop ‘drift’ over time. A UK consumer rights group found last year that the controllers have a “design flaw” which leads to the issue.

A class-action lawsuit about the Nintendo Switch controller was dismissed recently too, after lawyers for the class unsuccessfully attempted to argue that children were the rightful owners of the consoles, barring them from legally signing the end user license agreement.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.