Switch vs Wii – VGChartz Gap Charts – December 2018 Update - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 February 2019 / 4,910 Views
The VGChartz Gap charts are updated monthly and each article focuses on a different gap chart. The charts include comparisons between the 7th generation and 8th generation platforms, as well as comparisons within the 8th generation. All sales are worldwide, unless otherwise stated.
Switch Vs. Wii Global:
Gap change in latest month: 3,886,655 - Switch
Gap change over last 12 months: 3,713,991 - Wii
Total Lead: 1,817,073 - Wii
Switch Total Sales: 29,635,662
Wii Total Sales: 31,452,735
December 2018 is the 22nd month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month the Switch has closed the gap by 3.89 million units. However, in the last 12 months the Wii has outsold the Switch by 3.71 million units. The Wii is currently ahead of the Switch by 1.82 million units.
The Wii launched in November 2006, while the Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017. The Switch has sold 29.64 million units, while the Wii sold 31.45 million units during the same timeframe.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Now comes the strong times for wii.
This is looking a lot like the PS4 v. Switch graph, interesting. I wonder if Switch will continue its trend with the FY2019 lineup vs. the shear craze of the Wii in the upcoming months.
One difference between this and the PS4 vs. Switch graph is that in the latter case, the two curves criss-cross each other back and forth. The Switch didn't cross the Wii curve this time from holiday sales. That's because the Wii had record breaking sales for it's first 3-4 years and sales plummeted after that. PS4 and Switch have had strong and steady sales so far, so they are fairly similar.
I do expect Switch sales to shoot up, like the Wii, this year. But even then it will take a while for it to catch the Wii. The Wii itself was having record breaking sales for those first few years. The way to beat the Wii is to be able to "go the distance". No console is going to beat the Wii at the 3 year mark, but a strong console can beat its lifetime total.
Nintendo said it had sold 32.3 million Switches by the end of December. Does nearly 3 million still on shelves make sense? It sounds like a lot to me.
It's a lot, but after the holiday season it's not that unusual. Keep in mind shipping can take over a month from Japan depending where to send to, so retailers generally make big orders before the season to make sure they have enough at hand, and by that generating some more surplus than the other quarters
Huh. I wonder how long that surplus generally takes to sell though? If it's a while, that would artificially deflate Nintendo's sales numbers for Switch in the next quarter. I mean 3 million might be most of the next quarter's sales, so the next report might say Switch only sold a million and change for the quarter.
