Switch vs PS4 Sales Comparison – Switch Lead Grows in May 2020 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 14 June 2020 / 3,966 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.
This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 4.
Switch Vs. PS4 Global:
Gap change in latest month: 563,909 - Switch
Gap change over last 12 months: 5,001,181 - Switch
Total Lead: 2,659,055 - Switch
Switch Total Sales: 57,526,267
PS4 Total Sales: 54,867,212
May 2020 is the 39th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Switch by 563,909 units when compared to the PlayStation 4 during the same timeframe. In the last 12 months the Switch has outsold the PlayStation 4 by 5.00 million units. The Switch is currently ahead of the PlayStation 4 by 2.66 million units.
The PlayStation 4 launched in November 2013, while the Nintendo Switch launched worldwide in March 2017. Therefore, the holiday periods for the two consoles do not lineup, which is why there are big increases and decreases.
The 39th month on sale for the Nintendo Switch is May 2020, while for the PlayStation 4 it is January 2017. The Switch has sold 57.53 million units, while the PlayStation 4 sold 54.87 million units during the same timeframe.
The PlayStation 4 has sold 111.04 million units through May 2020. The Nintendo Switch is currently 53.51 million units behind the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 4.
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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Oh, I wasn't aware the double helix is already broken. If Switch can keep the current crazy momentum it might stay ahead for the next PS4-holidays.
PS4 was at 73.6 million week ending Dec 30th, 2017. So switch needs 16 million units within the next 11 month to keep the lead. Switch sold 9 million in November+December (holiday) 2019. Assuming the same numbers holiday 2020, it needs 7 more million in 9 "regular" month (june-oct 2020 + jan-april 2021). I think that is very very possible. (all numbers to be considered as "roughly" ^^)
I actually thought it would be close to a cross again, but a 2.6 million lead for Switch after PS4's holiday season is way above my expectations. Animal Crossing and/or Covid boost obviously helped a lot.
Switch is a monster !
WOW, 5 million more sales for Switch within the last 12 month really is a big deal.
We had threads predicting Switch's doom...
Switch is doomed!... in 2028 or so...
Not a May, one of the slowest months of the year beating PS4's January by 560k we-
2017 was the peak year of the PS4 right ? Or was it 2018?
PS4 peaked 2017 with 19.8 million units.
PS4 peak year for 2017 is 20.2M. Sony has confirmed this before.
unstoppable!
Switch's lifetime duration and consistent game releases will decide how this race will go. The pandemic helped alot, i think the new gen will somehow slow it down even if marginally. The coming holidays will be very interesting.
So as it helped the PS4, and the Switch is a hybrid having mainly its use as a nomad console, the PS4 is a static one, the COVID should have even helped more the PS4 than the Switch. I am not living in a country which had severe lock down but if I had to choose one to stay 6 or 8 weeks in lock down, it would be the PS4 with no hesitation.
Still doubtful that Nintendo can beat it in the long run, but it's looking less like a crazy prediction each month.
Thing is Nintendo has used most of their big guns already. With the sort of exceptions of Mario Kart and 2D Mario, pretty much all of their big sellets have been released. I'm curious to see what Nintendo has planned if they really expect this to last 6+ years on the market at near these levels.
Sequels also move hardware, because they ensure that a console keeps getting talked about alongside with an accompanying marketing push for the console. Nintendo also has the conventional means of price cuts and hardware revisions left. Switch is in its fourth year already, so soon the question isn't so much how Nintendo can push yearly sales even higher, but rather how they can stabilize them. That's what sequels, price cuts and revisions do, so beating the PS4 isn't a tall task because the PS4 declined after its fourth year.
I understand where you are coming from, there are sequels to games, 3D Mario games traditionally haven't had a sequel, the main exception being Galaxy and Galaxy 2, which sold around 60% of the original game's sales. It's hard to say how a sequel to Breath of the Wild would sell, as there has typically been large differences in situations of Zelda sequels (Zelda 2 was completely different from the original, you needed the expansion for Majora, Twilight Princess was sold on 2 different consoles, but if memory serves correct sold admirably for a split system release, and Skyward Sword was very different than Twilight Princess). Metroid Prime 4 is in development and would be the first Prime game in over a decade, and if it is good could probably sell 5 million, assuming its a similar transformation in sales like Zelda. A 2D mario game could sell well, but I think it is for the better in terms of sales the longer they wait, but not too long. It kinda seems like they are trying to serve to more niche audiences right now, with the return of Paper Mario, Fire Emblem, publishing Astral Chain, remaking Link's Awakening (which is nothing like BoTW in terms of gameplay), Xenoblade Chronicle Definitive Edition/2 and Metroid Prime 4 also shows this. While I did call them niche, these are all multi-million sellers, which means nintendo is employing a strategy of building quick momentum, and conserving it throughout the year with minor hits, and serving the holidays with a major one and a minor one.
I think people misunderstood me. When I said I was curious, I meant that sincerely. I'm a big Nintendo fan. I'm hoping they can pull it off. And if they're going to do so, they're going to need some big games. Since we know next to nothing about what's coming to the system beyond Bayo3, MP4, and BOTW2, I'm genuinely curious/excited to see how they plan to keep momentum going.
