Switch 2 Best-Seller, PS5 Tops 91M LT - Worldwide Hardware Estimates for March 2026 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 23 April 2026 / 20,704 Views
The Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling console worldwide with 1,676,756 units sold for March 2026, according to VGChartz estimates. The Switch 2 has sold 18.74 million units lifetime.
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console, with an estimated 858,014 units sold, to bring lifetime sales to 91.52 million units. The Nintendo Switch 1 was the third best-selling console, with an estimated 237,954 units sold, to bring lifetime sales to 154.45 million units. The Xbox Series X|S came in fourth place with 140,798 units sold, to bring its lifetime sales to 34.57 million units.
Switch 2 sales compared to the same month for the Switch 1 in 2018 are up by nearly 702,000 units, as the Switch 1 sold 973,830 units in March 2018.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2019 are down by nearly 263,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are down by over 287,000 units. The PS4 sold 1,120,732 units for the month of March 2019 and Xbox One sales were at 428,062 units.
PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 218,912 (-20.3%). Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 152,169 units (-51.9%) and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are down by 273,545 units (-53.5%).
Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch 2 sales are up by nearly 928,000 units, PlayStation 5 sales are up by nearly 220,000 units, Xbox Series X|S sales are up by over 7,000 units, and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are up by over 27,000 units.
2026 year-to-date, the Nintendo Switch 2 has sold 3.15 million units, the PlayStation 5 has sold 2.08 million units, the Nintendo Switch 1 has sold 0.64 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.39 million units.
Monthly Sales:
Global hardware estimates for March 2026 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- Switch 2 - 1,676,756 (18,736,105)
- PlayStation 5 - 858,014 (91,517,202)
- Switch 1 - 237,954 (154,450,095)
- Xbox Series X|S - 140,798 (34,574,152)
- Switch 2 - 684,146
- PlayStation 5 - 395,692
- Xbox Series X|S - 100,602
- Switch 1 - 66,969
- Switch 2 - 444,240
- PlayStation 5 - 263,779
- Switch 1 - 33,387
- Xbox Series X|S - 28,275
- Switch 2 - 522,610
- PlayStation 5 - 169,085
- Switch 1 - 130,351
- Xbox Series X|S - 5,157
- PlayStation 5 - 29,458
- Switch 2 - 25,760
- Xbox Series X|S - 6,764
- Switch 1 - 7,247
Weekly Sales:
Global March 7, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 451,756
- PlayStation 5 - 153,277
- Switch 1 - 52,316
- Xbox Series X|S - 30,659
Global March 14, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 380,102
- PlayStation 5 - 141,806
- Switch 1 - 48,264
- Xbox Series X|S - 25,684
Global March 21, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 316,173
- PlayStation 5 - 148,863
- Switch 1 - 46,719
- Xbox Series X|S - 28,030
Global March 28, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 274,157
- PlayStation 5 - 192,091
- Switch 1 - 46,080
- Xbox Series X|S - 27,138
Global April 4, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 254,568
- PlayStation 5 - 221,977
- Switch 1 - 44,575
- Xbox Series X|S - 29,287
VGChartz Methodology: Hardware estimates are based on retail sampling and trends in individual countries, which are then extrapolated to represent the wider region. This typically allows us to produce figures that end up being within 10% of the actual totals.
This data is regularly compared against official shipment figures released by the console manufacturers and figures estimated by regional trackers with greater market coverage than ourselves. We then update our own estimates to bring them into line with those figures. This can result in frequent changes often within a short space of time, but we feel it's important to prioritise accuracy over consistency.
Note that our estimates are based on sell-through data (units sold to consumers). In almost all cases the figures released by console manufacturers are based on shipment data (sell-in), where as soon as a device has left the factory and entered the supply chain for delivery it is considered a sale. This is why there is always a difference between the companies’ figures (sell-in) and VGChartz estimates (sell-through), even after we’ve made adjustments. The one exception to that is when a console has been discontinued and the remaining stock has finally sold out – at that point the figures will match.
Update: PS5, Switch 2, and Switch 1 figures updated following the latest adjustments
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 follow the author on Bluesky.
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considering the estimated sales are nearly identical to their projected ship total: Im guessing Nintendo has beaten the 19mil estimate
Tbf, they aren't always super identical, as the ship total was 17M vs the sell-through of 15M at the end of December, but then again there's always a lot of stock left over after the holiday drive, so the gap is probably smaller in this instance compared to then, and I'd say they've almost certainly shipped at least a couple hundred thousand more than the total figure we see here, so a safe bet they're well past it, yeah.
NS2 at 18,927,905 world wide sales by the end of March...
I assume its at 20M by now, or very close to it
PS5 being down -3.2% year-on-year is just so good to see.
That's a very, very healthy pace that's going on for PS5 for quite some months now, and iirc PS5 last year it was up year-on-year compared to March 2024. So that's a nice feat to be down only -3% now.
I don't agree with everything Sony have done in the PS5 gen ofc. But considering Yoshida's recent statements about the impact of Jim Ryan's actions, most certainly in regards to GaaS, I'm just happy to see that SIE can hopefully recover from all the cumulative time & money of development Ryan had literally trashed.
It's only since March 2024 Jim Ryan has left. And a complete debugging of his strategy just takes time I imagine.
Anyway. Good to see.
Switch 2? Absolutely no words for that performance at this point in time, incredible.
X|S? At least NOW I personally claim we're getting the nearest-to-truth ratio in the US v. rest of the world sales. Which I believe has been the ratio since 2022/2023.
Xbox Helix can't come soon enough for them, that's for sure. 0.39M units year-to-date. What a situation Xbox put themselves in, just crazy.
Valve could so easily put Xbox out of its misery rn, although it kinda sucks that they're not really trying to make the Machine a competitor, more just a side gig.
Probably PS5 sales will decline more after the next price increase...
Oh wow, an actual strong month for Switch 2. Not something we've seen in a while. This is the system's first really good month since last Summer, other than December. Why did it do so well this month outta nowhere? Was it the surprise hit Pokopia? I'm not aware of anything else coming out recently that would renew interest in the system.
The Switch 2 has been consistently doing better than the Switch 1 did in its first year. 17M in its first year vs what's looking like 20M in the Switch 2's first year, and apart from January and February (which are dead months for sales just in general, and even then it was neck and neck with the PS5, which is also still doing solid numbers) it's always averaged at around a million.
An average that, again, the Switch 1 barely ever hit per-month in 2017, and look where it ultimately ended up.
And yes, Pokopia shot it up to 1.7M, but I'm pretty sure it still would've sold roughly a million even without it. Am I in an alternate dimension where a million units a month is bad? What?
Is this some kind of joke? Switch 2 is around Gamecube's lifetime shipments after 10 months on the market. How would it be possible to reach 20M+ shipments in 10 months with 1-2 strong months?
The people who insist the Switch 2 is failing or at least 'selling slowly' are not living on the same planet as the rest of us, it's baffling.
EDIT: Then again, people constantly tried to say the Switch 1 was also failing back in 2017 and 2018, before slowly having to shut up when they realized it wasn't slowing down. History's probably just repeating itself.
While this is true... and consoles will pick up even more when these titles hit
People like myself have been buying the console KNOWing banger titles are on the way. Most Nintendo IP have more fans than ever so why would they wait for the game to get here when they can get the console now and play their NS1 library with better performance right now.
This was the same reason I bought a PS5 even though I would argue they still don't have many "must play" PS5 exclusives
Fair point actually yeah, the backwards compatibility alone has probably carried a lot of sales, since a lot of people do see the appeal in just smoother Switch 1 experiences.
It's why the NS2 is probably the console epitome of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and why I'm glad it was more or less a status-quo type deal, made for a more seamless transition.
I mean, we can apply this same logic to things like GTA 6 (finally) releasing on the PS5. Well, except that many people are still waiting for good NS2 sales, while the PS5 already had a lot of good sales, and it's now costing more than ever.
I just realized another contradiction in this as well. Even if we accept the logic of "this rough amount is what constitutes a strong month" then June, July, November, December, AND March were all strong months, since they were either only slightly less or more than this. That's five months, well within range of the arbitrary 'strong' number.
My brain is spinning. Even if you accept the idea that low millions are 'weak/slow' sales (which they ain't), and that interest wasn't there, that still means five of those months were hits.
I don't get the discourse surrounding Switch 2. Outside of last November where PS5 sold gangbusters in Europe due to it being on sale for $400 making it arguably the most powerful home console on the market and the cheapest home console on the market, Nintendo has been doing quite well. They've either been top seller or trailed by a slim margin going back to October.
People need to stop listening to Nintendeen and Fritanga and other Rage content grifters.
