Switch vs PS4 – VGChartz Gap Charts – April 2020 - Sales

Huh? They both have had 3 Christmas seasons. Three dips, three peaks. The 4th PS4 Christmas is about to start, and isn't in the data yet.

These charts go up to the end of December 2016, so yes it does include the PS4's 4th holiday season. There are only three peaks because it didn't really have one during its first holiday season due to the limited supply at launch.

I wouldn't look too deep into this as the Covid situation has actually really helped boost sales for video gaming right now. This definitely helps all the big gaming companies but none more so than Nintendo as the Switch is the hot new item out there. That and Animal Crossing has come out at the perfect time!

Charts are going until the end of November, the PS4 launched in November, so 12 months ends in October, and 36 ends in October, therefore 37 ends in November. Does not include the most recent Christmas yet, the comment is just incorrect.

You're right about the dates, but these charts go up to month 38, not month 37. It says so right in the article: "The 38th month on sale for the Nintendo Switch is April 2020, while for the PlayStation 4 it is December 2016."

I guess it is because the April numbers were very unusually high for Switch. It wasn't a great Christmas for Sony that year :)

I guess it is because the April numbers were very unusually high for Switch. It wasn't a great Christmas for Sony that year :)

The PS4 had a strong holiday in 2016 but covid seems to be creating an unprecedented demand for the Switch.

@alistair, Was going to answer, but SuperNintend0rk proved you wrong already.

@OTBWY I couldn't help myself. The article explains everything so I'm pretty sure he didn't even read it.

I think people are underestimating switch legs because it is the home console but people forget that Nintendo handhelds have really good legs and since the switch is now the only Ninty console, it'll have really good legs.

This is a nonsense argument that keeps coming back. Same person perhaps?

Switch is gonna fall of a cliff at any moment now

This must be hard for some of you.

I didn't make any argument. Some people have problems with Math? 250 million during the last gen is a lot more sales of hardware than the 150 million over the last 8 years... Luckily for Nintendo they increased the average prices of games to compensate.

I didn't make any argument. Some people have problems with Math? 250 million during the last gen is a lot more sales of hardware than the 150 million over the last 8 years... Luckily for Nintendo they increased the average prices of games to compensate.

Well I mean, if you want to talk basic math you have to look at software sales. Since the Switch is both a console and a hybrid, it can occupy the same number of households without necessarily selling the same amount of hardware. Software sales drive profit, and Nintendo games are breaking records left and right.

So when games like AC, Zelda, etc are selling 3 times as much on one device than two, it really does not matter what the added sum of dedicated handheld and console sales were as people would often buy both (which means no increase in software sales per console).

When it comes to math, you are doing basic while everyone else os doing algebra in this case.

Nonsense, the 3DS sold 380 million games vs 320 million on the Switch, that doesn't even include the Wii. Not sure why people hate the idea of a Nintendo home console so much. Sell more hardware, sell more software, hopefully get back to how they used to be.

I added it up, 900 million Wii software sales. I don't know why people keep on pushing the narrative that we don't need a home console. Hardware sales are down vs last gen, software sales are down vs last gen. Now that we have a genuine hit in the Switch, it is possible Nintendo can use that cross compatibility to move back into success with a home console.

Well I mean, if you want to talk basic math you have to look at software sales. Since the Switch is both a console and a hybrid, it can occupy the same number of households without necessarily selling the same amount of hardware. Software sales drive profit, and Nintendo games are breaking records left and right.

So when games like AC, Zelda, etc are selling 3 times as much on one device than two, it really does not matter what the added sum of dedicated handheld and console sales were as people would often buy both (which means no increase in software sales per console).

When it comes to math, you are doing basic while everyone else os doing algebra in this case.

Nintendo has a hime console. It is called the Switch.

So you are just repeating yourself without facts. You don't want a home console, I get it. But 250 million home sales vs 150 million sales is a smaller business. Almost 1.3 billion software sales vs 300 million is a smaller business. People will torture themselves to attack a Nintendo home console because they are irrationally attached to portable devices. You can have the $40 Raspberry Pi for $300, ie, the Switch. I've been buying Nintendo consoles since the 80s, and it's sad to see the company that pioneered the home console abandon it.

Here are some facts...

Current 3DS software sales - 383 mil
Current Switch software in half the time with a much smaller install base - 356

Do you know why that is? Because both the console and handheld sides of the software are made for a single piece of hardware. The Switch is geared to pass 100 mil, and software sales will be greater than the WiiU and the 3DS combined EASILY (which was last gen BTW).

Now you could argue Wii plus DS is a hard one to match, but much like the PS2, that lighting in a bottle was an anomaly. The timing played a huge factor, which led to many people grabbing them up and buying games like Wii Fit and Wii sports in droves. You will never see that kind of success again because of a large number of factors, just like we will never see a home console reach PS2 levels for the same reason. You are cherry picking where you get your data, and that throws your entire logic in question.

But you can compare it to any gen really. Game Cube plus GBA gives similar results. Hell take the Game Boy, divide it across the 3 generations it existed in, combine it with the NES, SNES, and N64 based on each gen respectively, and the Switch is still set to SOAR right on past in software sales.

So there is your facts, and your maths, that you can't seem to put together yourself. Have a nice day.

Hm, last time i checked Switch is a home-console, that's how i've used it like 80% of my time with it, right there on my 50" TV

Nah, it's a home-console you can take with you

We are at VGchartz. Click on the top left button at the home page "this generation" and change it to "last generation" and lo!, Wii and DS are last gen obviously, not the Switch and 3DS which are the same generation.

And yeah you can use the Switch as a home console even though it isn't one, it is a dockable portable. Just like you could dock the gameboy and gameboy advance and the Vita. Nobody called those home consoles, because they had a dock you could buy. Put the dock in the box and call it a home console... that doesn't work.

It's a glorified $40 Roku without a proper controller included when you dock it.

WiiU and 3DS were last gen. The 3DS was only kept alive after the Switch on life support in a similar way that the PS2 was when the PS3 launch, or even the PS3 when PS4 launched. So by your logic, I guess PS2 is gen 7 and PS3 is gen 8?

And the difference between Switch and Vita/Vita TV is that the Switch is a single device that actually behaves and functions differently when docked or undocked. When docked, the screen is disabled, clock speeds go up, cooling steps up, performance and resolution changes, and in some cases in game assets change as well. The hybrid literally changes its function and form factor on a hardware level, rather than just simply display the portable image on a TV. It is factually not the same, not matter how much you want it to be. There is no way to get docked performance while in portable mode without modifications of some sort.

Nah, it's a home-console you can take with you

It is a home console you can take with you. It is a handheld you can play at home. I don't know how hard it is to accept this fact but I know some really want to believe Nintendo is out of the home console market, wishful thinking in favour of your favourite company perhaps?

The people here are so f'in dumb. It is called VGChartz. You can look up this data on this website. Which console is which generation is according to this website. My favorite company is Nintendo. It is so ridiculous that a portable that comes with something called "the dock" in the box, is considered to be a home console. It's the opposite of logic. When you point out, hey, they are selling less hardware AND softward, you actually have to argue about it? On VGChartz? The website with all the data? Later idiots. I'll go find some real Nintendo fans.

It's a sin to lie