Switch vs PS2 Sales Comparison - March 2026 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted 2 hours ago / 1,872 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 monthly worldwide sales of the Nintendo Switch with the lifetime sales of the PlayStation 2.
The PS2 launched in March 2000 in Japan, October 2000 in North America, and November 2000 in Europe. The Nintendo Switch launched worldwide in March 2017.
Switch Vs. PS2 Global:
Gap change in latest month: 237,954 - Switch
Gap change over last 12 months: 4,113,109 - Switch
PS2 Lead (Low End): 5,549,905
PS2 Lead (High End): 6,186,790
Switch Total Sales: 154,450,095
PS2 Total Sales (Low End): 160,000,000
PS2 Total Sales (High End): 160,636,885
March 2026 is the 109th month that the Nintendo Switch has been available for and it has sold 154.45 million units lifetime. The PlayStation 2 sold between 160.0 million and 160.64 million units lifetime as Sony announced it sold over 160 million, while 160.64 million is the number of units manufactured.
In the latest month, the Nintendo Switch has closed the gap with the PS2 by 0.24 million units. In the last 12 months, the Nintendo Switch has caught up by 4.11 million units.
The Switch is 5.55 million units away from outselling the low end sales of the PlayStation 2, while it is 6.19 million units away from the high end.
Note: Sony announced the PS2 sold over 160 million units lifetime, while an image confirmed by Shawn Layden to be real showed there were 160,636,885 units manufactured.
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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The Big One, for the longest time i believed Switch would end up passing PS2, now i'm not so sure, i probably lean towards the doesn't pass but gets close
The difference between shipped and sold will grow smaller and smaller over time, until the point where shipped and sold are the same.
So no, not unfair.
By that same logic we should be using the Switchs shipped sales in the comparison to level the playing field.
Something you should have no issue with given how fair you think the use of shipped on Sonys side is.
The Switch managed to get a sales comparison chart with the PS2 here on the website. For that alone, it is already a winner
If we had estimates for the PS2 I probably would have done it sooner. But without I decided to wait until it passed the DS and for the latest forecast, which still gives it a small chance of topping the PS2.
This will be a very fun one to watch! Gonna be very close… likely within one or two million.
I think this are gonna be the the factor place to talk about the PS2 vs Switch war, since we can't talk about it in the Rol's thread. I'm just gonna say that the Switch 2 are not gonna have a new Mario, Pokémon and brand new Zelda game until next year, so this year may end up being a relative good year for the Switch, even despite Nintendo's 2M forecast
And here we go.
I'm giving it until the end of this fiscal year before throwing in the towel. If Nintendo exceeds its forecast then the Switch is still in the game - and it could with Switch Lite Tomodachi bundles, holiday deals, etc. But if it doesn't, not only will the numbers be too low, but, most importantly, it will show that there is no effort from the company to keep the system relevant anymore going forward.
They botched their chance on this unfortunately. It wouldn't have taken too much different but it's definitely too late now unless something crazy happens.
The PS2 holds the record for both cumulative hardware sales and software sales, but the Switch will likely overtake it in the next quarter for the latter.
https://www.vgchartz.com/charts/platform_totals/Software.php/
Nah, those numbers are not up to date. (Ask Trunks) The PS4 has overtaken the PS2 over 5 years ago in software. (1.56B to 1.53B) Since then, PS4 has still been selling millions of software and has extended this lead over PS2 substantially. Switch is not overtaking this next quarter.
source?
You are correct. The software is based on official numbers when possible and since Sony released the PS5 they have been combining PS5 and PS4 software figures in their reports. So PS4 software numbers are only until the PS5 released.
Just for clarification, doesn't Nintendo exclude digital-only sales in those numbers while Sony includes them? Or is this not true or not true anymore?
Wow, awesome series of articles!
