Switch vs PS4 vs Xbox One Global Lifetime Sales - December 2020 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 February 2021 / 2,808 Views
Welcome to the latest edition of the ‘Switch vs PS4 vs Xbox One Worldwide’ article. This series compares the monthly and lifetime retail sales of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Looking at the total sales of the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch through December 2020 shows how the Switch has been consistently gaining on the lifetime PS4 sales since the middle of 2019. The PS4 is ahead of the Switch by 37.8 million units and the Xbox One by 65.4 million units. The Switch is ahead of the Xbox One by 27.6 million
The PS4 is 3.86 million units away from outselling the Game Boy, which sold 118.69 million units lifetime. The Switch has outsold the 3DS, which has sold 75.82 million units to date. The Xbox One has outsold the SNES, which sold 49.10 million units lifetime.
The Switch passed the 76 million mark. The PS4 has sold 114.83 million units lifetime, the Switch 76.99 million units, and the Xbox One 49.44 million units.
Looking at the marketshare, the PlayStation 4 currently leads. The PlayStation 4 has a 47.6 percent market share, the Switch sits at 31.9 percent, and the Xbox One at 20.5 percent.
PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 114,831,374
Switch Total Sales: 76,989,289
Xbox One Total Sales: 49,435,144
During the month of December 2020, the Switch outsold the PlayStation 4 by 5.27 million units for the month and the Xbox One by 5.63 million units. The PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One by 359,140 units.
When you compare monthly sales to a year ago, the Switch is up, while the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are down. The Nintendo Switch is up 994,992 units (19.8%), the PlayStation 4 is down 1.37 million units (-64.4%) and the Xbox One is down 895,359 units (-69.3%).
Looking at the marketshare, the Switch managed to achieve 84.0 percent of the monthly sales. The PlayStation 4 accounted for 10.5 percent of the consoles sold, and the Xbox One 5.5 percent.
PlayStation 4 Monthly Sales: 755,816
Switch Monthly Sales: 6,028,658
Xbox One Monthly Sales: 396,676
The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched in November 2013, while the Switch launched three years and four months later in March 2017.
As a reminder, VGChartz tracks consoles sold to consumers and not units shipped.
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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Nintendo Switch wins! Flawless victory!
And to think 2021 might be the Switch's peak year.
Nintendo doesn't even need a pro at this point
I never thought they would, honestly. It's too late anyway. The switch will be entering year 5 in March. I still see a "new" nintendo switch possibly this year. But if sales are staying up for the first few months of this year, maybe the first half of next year. If they wait until next year for a "new"/i revision, I think they'll push the next switch until 2024 though.
Tl;dr I agree. Lol.
Guessing this might be one of the last monthly comparisons between the switch and the gen 8 consoles. December is very telling. Sony and MS are still supply limited, but gen 9 is finally in full swing.
Ps4 December did about as well as January 2020. And xbone December didn't even reach switch's lowest month ever. They'll keep selling as long as they're produced, but it won't very informative data going forward.
I'd say either include ps4 and xbone in charts going forward, or just do the gen 9 charts from now on. As I said, stock is still a limiter for sony and MS, but it's at least a fair comparison between the modern systems.
