Switch vs DS Sales Comparison - April 2024 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 09 June 2024 / 4,576 Views
The VGChartz sales comparison series of articles are updated monthly and each one focuses on a different sales comparison using our estimated video game hardware figures. The charts include comparisons between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as with older platforms. There are articles based on our worldwide estimates, as well as the US, Europe, and Japan.
This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the Nintendo Switch and the Nintendo DS.
The DS launched in November 2004 in North America, December 2004 in Japan, and March 2005 in Europe, 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.
Switch Vs. DS Global:
Gap change in latest month: 929,122 - DS
Gap change over last 12 months: 5,780,257 - Switch
Total Lead: 9,951,868 - DS
Switch Total Sales: 139,860,242
DS Total Sales: 149,812,110
April 2024 is the 86th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the DS by 0.93 million units when compared to the Switch during the same timeframe.
In the last 12 months, the Switch has outsold the DS by 5.78 million units. The DS is ahead of the Switch by 9.95 million units.
The 86th month on sale for the Nintendo Switch is April 2024, while for the DS it is December 2011. The Switch has sold 139.86 million units, while the DS sold 149.81 million units during the same timeframe.
The Nintendo DS sold 154.02 million units lifetime. The Nintendo Switch is currently 14.16 million units behind the lifetime sales of the DS.
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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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The final massive climb before the successor releases. It should surpass the DS, according to Nintendo shipments by March 2025. Total sold will probably surpass the DS in May or June 2025.
Im expecting the May 2025 fiscal report to state that sipments have just exceeded the DS making Switch the best selling Nintendo platform of all time. Then hopefully the Feb 2026 report will reveal its outsold the PS2s 160 million making it the bestselling console of all time.
Hopefully not. They should announce the successor soon and price it competitively
Do you think this will be the last time the gap will grow in favor of the DS? That from now on, the Switch will always come closer to the DS? First, I thought that, yes, that would be the case, but now I don't know. With the expectations towards the Switch 2 and its eventual release , I don't know if the Switch can beat the DS in Month 98 (Switch's April 2025 vs DS's December 2012). If the Switch 2 releases in March 2025 or April 2025, I think the DS might have one more possible victory over the Switch
The optimistic people forget that with every single unit sold Switch continues to sell less and less month after month. So yes 14M it's not much however it is not like 2020 or 2021, where 1 year is enough for this. as the times move on those 14M may become 2 years, and even though it may pass it in the end, the sales after that point are very very questionable. If the drops continue with the speed they are now (from 1M per month to almost half of it by only 3-4 months period, then Switch won't be able to top even 10M this year, and by next year, it will do 50k per week which will end in around 3M for the year, just see the XBSX now, it's already doing 50-60k per week and with this speed it will be at around 3 or little over 3M when the year is done. As once I said, the more and more you go up in the milestones of the sales, the more difficult and harder it becomes. It's like when a person do sprint. In the beginning and the middle it can maintain around the same great speed, but the more it continues the more and the faster it runs out of steam. And having in mind announcement is coming soon of Switch 2 and launch maybe in the fall maybe in the spring, the chances really becomes 50/50 if Switch will pass DS, let alone something like the PS2. If they drop the price by at least 100$ and launch the successor at 350$ or more then I can see at having some chance of reaching PS2 and pass the DS for sure. But with the current speed at least the last 9 months (since the notable drops began), I am 50/50 on if the Switch will reach and more importantly pass the DS and with how much.
Nintendo expects to sell 13.5 millions Switch units from April 2024 to March 2025. Of course it may not happen but if they stablished this number, they must have a reason, so don't think it's a matter of being optimistic, but just basing on Nintendo's projection. Using VGChartz numbers, the Switch sold 139.2 millions units until March 2024, add more 13.5 M and we have 152.7 millions units, leaving only 1.3 left to reach the DS. If we use Nintendo's own sales numbers of 141.32 until March 2024, it's bye-bye for the DS by the end of March 2025. Again, using Nintendo's own projection numbers
I know, however with the trends in sales that are going on I strongly question that number for Switch 1 alone. In fact I more and more believe that it's about the combined number for both, if Switch 2 launch in the holidays or little after that, cuz 8 to 10M is realistic for Switch 1, and 3.5 to 5.5M is realistic for 3 months period of Switch 2 selling. Of course they couldn't confirm this at the forecast since the successor is not announced yet. Also even in the case of really being about the Switch 1 numbers, let's not forget that Nintendo had already being wrong before with their forecast, and to be off by about 3M is not impossible. We will see how it will be going forward but from almost a million in january to barely 600k 3 months later is not something to ignore.
I think it's too soon to think that the Switch will have a sharp decline in sales this year. April was not a good month, but maybe this was just a case of one bad month and future ones will be better. We also have a Direct this month, that it will shed light on Nintendo's future plans for the rest of the year that may help the sales raise to 800k~900k again
Yh but the sales trends are understandable given Nintendos software output for this year up to this point. Nintendo didnt decide its fiscal year sales projection on a whim and it stated that whilst achieving it will be challenging it was going to endeavour to do so. So thats an indicator of a strong and compelling Direct for later this month. So no more doom and gloom. Lets revisit this convo after the Direct
It's not really doom and gloom to predict a 2017 system will finally decline. Not a big deal if it doesn't reach DS that's still fantastic
it’s really hard to say what Nintendo is thinking rn. I would be shocked if they don’t announce a price cut this holiday given their bold projection of 13mil F24. Though I feel we’ll have a much clearer image after the Nintendo Direct this month.
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