Switch vs Wii – VGChartz Gap Charts – October 2018 Update - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 December 2018 / 6,463 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: 1,000,936 - Wii
Gap change over last 12 months: 5,381,450 - Wii
Total Lead: 7,336,926 - Wii
Switch Total Sales: 21,575,610
Wii Total Sales: 28,912,536
October 2018 is the 20th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month the Wii has grown its lead over the Switch. The Wii outsold the Switch by 1,000,936 units in the last month and by 5.38 million units in the last 12 months. The Wii is currently ahead of the Switch by 7.34 million units.
The Wii launched in November 2006, while the Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017. The Switch has sold 21.58 million units, while the Wii sold 28.91 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.
More Articles
Regardless of the current sales gap, I think it's too early to predict whether or not the Switch will outsell the Wii since its sales plummeted after the first 4 years, which is not typical of the average console. I think the Switch will have better legs long term.
This doesn't make sense. Nintendo is always front loaded and so you can expect to see a similar drop after 4 years. However, the Wii will be so far ahead by then that I'm not sure how you are expecting it to get to 100 million.
Nintendo's portables haven't been nearly as front loaded and with the Switch acting as a successor to the 3DS, 100 million is certainly possible.
I agree with SuperNintend0rk. I tend to think Switch sales will increase next year, and continue to sell strong for the rest of it's life. After the 4 year mark the Switch will definitely be closing the gap between it and the Wii.
As for this statement, "Nintendo is always front loaded", that is actually not true. Some of their consoles are front loaded and some have a very healthy tail.
Front loaded: N64, Gamecube, Wii, Wii U
Healthy tail end: NES, SNES, Gameboy, GBA, DS, 3DS
60% of the time, Nintendo has a very healthy tail. And it is not a coincidence that all of these consoles had good third party support. Switch already has a ton of third party games with a lot more on the way. It is clear that Switch is going to get the same kind of third party support that it's handhelds always get (or better). This kind of support always leads to a strong tail end. Just look at the 3DS, it still is selling and it still has games slated for 2019. That is what we should expect from the Switch too.
I agree with you 100%. I couldn't have said it better myself!
Switch sales are below what it should be trending at, because Nintendo didn't release any strong titles this year until the holidays. Give the console at least 12 more months and then we'll a curve that is more indicative of it's lifetime sales.
Well... June 2008 Wii -vs- October 2018 Switch and Wii wins by 1 Million. To be exactly thats 1.8 Million Wii -vs- 800k Switch.
In 2 Months Wii is at 31,765,472 Units (+2.8 million Units in two summer month^^ - week ending Sept 6th 2008). So Switch would need to sell ~10 Million in November and December to get back to Wii levels. Obviously this will not happen, but I assume at least something like 5-7 Million (probably rather at the upper edge) for these both month. And basically that would mean Switch is NOT far below Wii even if it looks like that right now. It is then at about 27.5Million (assuming 6 Million) -vs- 31.8 Million, so its still ~86% of Wii.
Its not that bad at all.
For comparison: Wii lead against PS4 was ~6 Million at Month 22!
80 - 85 million LT would be my guess.
You should wait middle of december this month before giving any pronostic.
I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference. No way is Switch going to clear this 6 million difference when it’s entering one of the most competitive holiday seasons ever. Switch will sell well LT, but will most likely peak in 2020, due to PS5 likely releasing later that year.
My guess of 65 million is looking more and more accurate. People should shy away from comparing it to the Wii to determine its success. Its like comparing any console to the PS2. If you are saying a console needs PS2 numbers to be successful, that ridiculous. For Nintendo, the Wii should be considered an outlier. If you do that and compare the Switch to their other consoles, you will see it is a crazy success.
45-55 million lifetime
45 to 55 million if a successor to the Switch is released in 2020/2021. Or else it will make more (probably) than 70 million
XOne will do 50-55 million lifetime. Switch must do 70-80 million.
Essay Pro