Switch vs DS Sales Comparison in the US - January 2025 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 March 2025 / 5,353 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 the US, while the Nintendo Switch launched in the US 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 US:
Gap change in latest month: 18,913 - Switch
Gap change over last 12 months: 610,281 - Switch
Total Lead: 4,567,629 - DS
Switch Total Sales: 47,582,837
DS Total Sales: 52,150,466
January 2025 is the 95th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for. During the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Switch by 18,913 units when compared to the DS during the same timeframe.
In the last 12 months, the Switch has outsold the DS by 0.61 million units. The DS is ahead of the Switch by 4.57 million units.
The 95th month on sale for the Nintendo Switch is January 2025, while for the DS it is September 2012. The Switch has sold 47.58 million units, while the DS sold 52.15 million units during the same timeframe.
The Nintendo DS sold 53.80 million units lifetime. The Nintendo Switch is currently 6.22 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 Bluesky.
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Like i said 157 million is my floor prediction for its LTD. 155 million will happen well befor the end of 2025.
the "ONLY" way Switch can make it, it's with time, Furakawa said the will still producing Switch consoles if they have demand.
yeah…this is a lost battle. Especially with all the uncertainty in the USA economy atm.
My lowest prediction for the Switch was 150 million+ for march 2025 (9 million shipped), that was about a year ago. 4 million this year will be the floor, no doubt about that (i just cannot see the Switch being more than 60% down YoY, sucessor or not- a month in the US is no indication for the whole yesr, let alone WW). This alone would have brought the Switch above the DS's 154,02 million by the end of march 2026. Less than a million next year is 100% impossible because Nintendo never discontinued a system selling more than 2- 3 million the year before. So 155 million+ for march 2027 was tge absolute floor to begin with! Only Apophis striking could prevent this!!
But tgings are different now: The Switch got close to 151 million by the end of december alone and likley won't finish under 152 milliln by march. 4 million for this year is still the floor wich takes it to 156 million in march next year. Less than a million for 2026 is a wishfull haterdream, so 157 million+ for march 2027 is the floor now! Again this is quite pessimistic. Add in the fact, Pokèmon ZA comes to Switch later this year (i guess IF there was a Switch 2 version, why not announce it NOW, as the System has already been unveiled now), and the high possibility of Pokémon Gen 10 being cross gen in late 2026, these won't be the only games Switch will be recieving 2026. As next year's gonna be Pokémon's 30th anniversary its absolutley impossible that Nintendo screws off ~155- 160 million users in November 2026 for this event. I cannot imagine Nintendo won't do anything with the current Switch despite its high userbase even if its only a bundle, barly cheaper than seperate. Thinking that to me is just delusional, not to say foolish and must come from people who are really afraid that the Switch writes History on Cost of a certain old lady! Again, 157 million is absolutley pessemistic and i do not take anything into accoubt like Pokémon or possible price cuts. About passing the PS2 or not: IDO NOT SAY IT WILL DO IT (!!!) but, IF the Switch only barley surpasses my predictions i can't help myself but admitting that its really coming dangerously close to this 160 million mark and i will think about again revising up my prediction... I mean you really expect the Switch to just dissapear after Switch 2 launched?😉
Switch is done in US (and Europe). See the line, it's almost flat. It's sales are 125k in January, and this is the lowest they have ever hit. When you look at 2024 line, it's almost flat there as well, and it did 1.7M with October included, but now with 50% drop, it's getting really bad. It will continue the path downward for the next few months. I expect soon to see 100k monthly numbers. Europe is the same story. Japan is the only alive territory for Switch, but there the picture isn't pink too. Yes I know it's almost in it's 9th year. I am not telling it because of that, cuz it's normal, it's even doing better than every other console in it's 9th year maybe excluding PS2. I am saying it, cuz the PS2 road is starting to look more and more impossible. If US and EU are almost done, Japan has some 2M more left in the tank at best, there is no way the Switch reaches 160M, unless price cut is done, then surely the sales will pick up. I think 1 to 1.5M at best for EU and US for the year. it will be around 155M by the end of 2025, so DS is a given, but not a lot more after that. Unless price cut or big difference in price with the Switch 2. The sales will be ugly from now on. Yea, I know, I may get down votes, but that won't change the facts and the reality. 120k monthly, Europe won't be much better for January as well. Japan is under 200k per month too. Something that happened only once last year and never before that since 2018
When you say the Switch won't pass the PS2, which sales number do you take in consideration for the PS2? 160.0 M, 160.6 M or 161.something M?
Guys! We have to wait till we draw a picture. Saying it will or will not make it and dancing on that line for the next months or years only will make one side look really stupid if it really happens or not. We have to see where Switch ends this FY and what Nintendo's FC will be. Don't forget there are so many factors in wether Switch passes PS2 or not like possible price cuts, longlivety (possibly even beyond march 2027), a 3DS like curve or te infamous cliff wich i doubt will happen. Also Pokémon ZA won't do nothing for Switch, sucessor or not. For now i keep 157 million LTD by march 2027 as the floor but i could rise this prediction during the year... We can only say that PS2s final is highly suspicious!
160M. I am saying that with the current pace it's not reaching it unless price cut or big difference between switch 2 and switch 1 in prices happen.
Let's say Europe sold 130k Switches in January, bringing Switch's sales up to 149.18. Now let's assume an avarage baseline of 400k for the Switch from February to October and 2 million units sold through November and December. We have 154.78 million. Now a 200k from January/2026 to October/2026 and 1.2 million units through November/2026 to December 2026. We have 157.98 million. If it is still ongoing in 2027, let's apply a harsher decline in sales: 80k avarage baseline from January to October and 900k though November and December: 159.68 million.
I'm usually pessimistic in my predictions and the numbers end up being a little bit higher, and I started this projections from VGChartz numbers. If I had started from the shipments numbers from Nintendo's report, it would have passed 160 million mark for shipped Switch. Believing that the Switch won't pass the PS2 isn't craziness nor the opposite. I think that today's scenario is very unclear to know in which side of the 160 M mark the Switch will land, but frankly, it has always been like this and I think that the possibility of the Switch passing the PS2 will remain unclear until the very end, like when people used to follow DS's sales to see if it would pass the 33 million markDS's sales to see if it would pass the 33 million mark
Starting from shipments or sold units is the same, since it ends in the same place. Just if you go with shipments you can do even bigger declines, since the difference between shipped units and sold units will get smaller till discontinuation. So with or without it, your final projection will be the same.
And yes there are many possibilities and we can make many ways how it's gonna happen. But after it's successor launch I expect death in the likes of DS and PS4, not so steady as you explain it. I expect 5-6M this year, maybe 2M next year, and if Nintendo does not discontinue it in 2027, then it can do some 1M for 2027 and 2028 combined if it's still there. Going from 149 sold, this is around 157-158M total. Even if we go with shipments, we just put 4-5M (by 03.2026) and then 1.5M (by 03.2027) and 0.5M (by 03.2028) and that's it. There is no difference if you talk about shipped or sold, except the short term numbers. Also by the way, 400k month with Switch 2 launched is not happening (assuming reasonable price and marketing of course, not 3DS situation). 400k to 500k will be the months leading to the launch, and maybe the launch month depending on what date is launching. 2M for Nov+Dec (again if Switch 2 is at reasonable price) is also hard. I would something like 1.5M. Just see the DS and PS4 lines in the hardware by tool, how their period around launch of the successor and little after that had turn out to be and you will understand. I know it's looking big of a drop, but that will be partially because of the good performance of the Switch this year too, not only it's successor, and age.
Yes, I know DS and PS4 did 9 and 8M in the years their successor launched, but they were coming from years stronger than the 11.8M year of the Switch, alongside launching the successor in the end of 2020 for PS4 giving it almost full year of sales for itself, and 3DS picking in sales in the last months of 2011, giving DS also big part of the year almost for itself. With Switch 2 launching around April to June, and having reasonable price, sales should pick up right away, and after April - June I see the Switch decline similar to PS4 after Nov 2020, and DS after the summer of 2011. DS did around 7M from the moment 3DS got the price cut and took almost all the sales of the DS for itself, the PS4 did 4M since the PS5 launched. The Switch is at 149M. If it does on average 500k till may it will be at around 151.5M by the time Switch 2 launch. From there even if we put the 7M of the DS, we still don't get to 160M, but to 158.5M. Yes you can say that Switch is way stronger in Japan than the DS was at that time, however DS was stronger in EU and US in it's latest years than the Switch is in the same point in time. And also DS pace after the successor is not 100% lock too. 160M is out of reach unless something like the 3DS happen with Switch 2, or Nintendo decides to slash the price of the Switch 1 by at least 50$, or even more.
Well, I don't know if you notice but your 158.5M prediction is almost the same as mine (159.68M) There were just some small differences that got added up in the end, that caused mine being not much more than 1M higher than yours. That's the thing. The difference will lie on details from now on, any step could lead Nintendo to pass Sony's record or not.
And I know that in the end, shippments and sales numbers end up being the same, but for the approach I used the final number would be different,
A = Switch's sales by Dec 2024 by VGChartz: ~149M
B = Switch's shipment by Dec 2024 by Nintendo: ~151M
C = My prediction for Switch sales from January 2025 and beyond: ~10 M
A+C= ~159M
B+C= ~161M
I know that the gap between shipped and sales numbers will decrease with time and become the same in the end, but, as for now, we still have this gap between A and B. We still need to consider it when predicting the final number of Switch when using A as a starting point
So you are throwing 2 different predictions there, since 159M sold units is different from 161M shipped ones. That is I am saying, if you have 1 prediction, no matter calculate it either sold or shipped it should end the same in the end. Yours is different, therefore you are making 2 different prediction instead of just adjusting the shipped prediction down, so that it meets the sold units in the end. So for shipped units you can simply take 2M off from the sales I wrote and call it shipped, since that is the gap between the two. It's the same thing. Your numbers too. If you expect 6M for calendar 2025 then shave off 1M and you get to 5M shipped, then shave 1M for the years ahead, and you get the sold and shipped equal since the difference is 2M now. Your 159 will be shipped and sold in the end, why you add those 2M difference to that total to become 161M ?
P.S. I just threw some numbers, my prediction is not exactly 158.5M. I would say something in the range of 157-159M as a possibility. Of course I expect the Switch 2 to launch before the summer's end, and to have reasonable price. I also expect Nintendo to not do any price cuts on the Switch. That is what my estimation is based on. I agree, every detail is important here.
Btw with the recent adjustments down, Switch sold 148.6M as of December 2024 according to vgchartz.
I was busy the other day, so I couldn't answer you, but, yes, I ended up doing 2 predictions, using 2 data as my starting point. The thing is that, in the end, VGChartz number will adjust to the offical report from Nintendo, so I don't see any problem in doing what I did. I just imagined VGChartz data without the adjustmentm, but pointing out that it will be adjusted eventually.
