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PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8 - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 21 May 2021 / 2,301 Views

Here we see data representing the global sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three current platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch) and three legacy platforms (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo 3DS) over comparable periods for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.  Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8

2018 – (Week ending January 13 to May 12)

2019 – (Week ending January 12 to May 11)

2020 – (Week ending January 11 to May 9)

2021 – (Week ending January 9 to May 8)

"Year to date" sales for 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2021 versus 2020 and 2021 versus 2019 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch Sales Comparison Charts Through May 8

Microsoft

  • Xbox One – Down Year-on-Year 1,083,217 (-75.4%)
  • Xbox Series X|S – n/a

Nintendo

  • Nintendo Switch - Up Year-on-Year 337,100 (4.3%)
  • Nintendo 3DS – Down Year-on-Year 206,912 (-89.8%)

Sony

  • PlayStation 4 – Down Year-on-Year 2,940,172 (-76.4%)
  • PlayStation 5 – n/a

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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8 Comments
AJNShelton (on 21 May 2021)

Gosh, 8.2 million without even trying. It will probably hit like 10 million during early-mid June, and will probably end up like at 13 million by end of September with a minor boost frim Skyward Sword HD. And then 12+ million for the year end is guaranteed.

  • +1
siebensus4 AJNShelton (on 21 May 2021)

Yeah, this could be the first 30M calendar year for any console ever.

  • +4
SvenTheTurkey siebensus4 (on 21 May 2021)

Nintendo only forecast 25 million, but I don't really know why. It's keeping pace with last year, and they sold 28 million.

  • -1
Kakadu18 SvenTheTurkey (on 22 May 2021)

Last year their forecasts were way lower too.

  • +2
NextGen_Gamer Kakadu18 (on 24 May 2021)

Nintendo does what Apple used to do (before they stopped providing sales forecasts for iPhones): they always forecast low-ball numbers. That way it is all-but-guaranteed to beat them in the earnings reports lol. For 2021 fiscal year, Nintendo did also say they were concerned about shortages; but I still have no reason to believe sales would go DOWN from the previous fiscal year (where it hit 28.83 mil). However it is possible chip shortages could hold it back from getting any higher than that, which would be a shame, since like @siebensus4 said, this could easily be a 30+ million year for Switch.

  • +2

I agree that it could be 30 million. I just find it odd they would forecast such a low number. They really can't forecast such a low number without some sort of reasoning because it could lead to repercussions. The investors could consider it some sort of stock manipulation which could land Nintendo in hot water. They increased last year from 20 to 26 million and crushed it. One could argue that they had no idea if the demand would stable, so the lower forecast than actual sales makes sense. Purposefully forecasting 5 million less than the final sales would not go well.

The president claimed they have enough parts for 30 million switches. That's where the disconnected occurs. They know they can produce 30 million, and the sales are strong so far. So what's the deal with the low forecast? There's something we don't know. Even if they went low on the forecast, the most they expect is 27 million or so. That really doesn't line up with a revision coming out this year which should boost sales rather than decrease sales.

  • +1

Yeah, I agree with what you said, but I also have no idea how it might work for them. Consistently and purposefully predicting low numbers just to blow them out of the water in earnings statements would be considered stock manipulation, I would think. So it's probably a tightrope act: how low can you predict without getting into trouble lol? And also, Nintendo is a Japanese company, and we (or at least I) might be imprinting American thinking/rules unto them, when maybe they don't apply at all. Like possibly for Japanese stocks they don't care at all if you predict low sales numbers over and over, I dunno lol

  • 0

That's true. I'm not a stock expert, but I would assume there's some sort of standard across all exchanges so they can be traded internationally.

Either way, there's definitely something that no one knows. That's including the people spreading the rumors about revisions.

  • 0