Since its launch on March 3, 2017, the Nintendo Switch has sold over *** million consoles worldwide as of March 2025. Following the poor sales of its predecessor, the Wii U, the Switch was seen as the new hope for Nintendo in the ongoing battle with other console giants, Xbox and PlayStation. The Switch sets itself apart from its competitors by the fact that it can be used as both a stationary console and a portable device, meaning that gamers can play from the comfort of their own homes or on the go. Nintendo cashes in on exclusive titlesOne of the key reasons for the Switch’s success is undoubtedly the popularity of Nintendo’s first-party titles. Blockbuster series such as The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pokémon are all exclusive to Nintendo, meaning that fans can only play their favorite games on Nintendo consoles. Unsurprisingly, these Nintendo exclusive games dominate the list of top selling Switch titles worldwide, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sitting top of the pile. Can Nintendo keep up with Microsoft and Sony?Thanks to the success of the Switch, Nintendo has once again been able to stake its claim as one of the big players in the console gaming market. Until 2022, Sony could still claim to be king of the consoles, with unit sales of its PlayStation 4 exceeding the *** million mark in 2019. As of 2023, Nintendo surpassed Sony, having sold over *** million units of the Switch. Microsoft’s contribution, the Xbox One, is lagging some way behind as sales of the consoles are still below ** million units worldwide.

The PlayStation 2 was first released in 2000 in response to Sony's hugely popular original PlayStation. The PS2 has become the best-selling video game console of all time. As of May 2025, it had sold over *** million units worldwide. The latest PlayStation 5 console has sold over *** million units as of the most recently measured period. Nintendo's Switch is the only current-generation console among the five best-selling consoles of all time, with over *** million units. PlayStation console history PlayStation is a Japanese video game brand produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a division of the Sony Corporation. The PlayStation video game console is the most widely known product under the PlayStation umbrella. The first-generation PlayStation console was released in Japan in December 1994, and worldwide the following year. Since then, Sony has released a further four generations of video game consoles - PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and the latest PlayStation 5 which was released in November 2020. Sony has also released two handheld video game consoles: the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita. Nintendo console history Nintendo registers three devices in the top five for all-time sales of video game consoles. Nintendo released its first series of home consoles in 1977 with the Color TV-Game. In 1983, the company released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a console that has recorded close to ** million lifetime sales globally. This was followed by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), and Nintendo GameCube, respectively. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, the popular home console with motion control features. Nintendo’s latest home console, the Nintendo Switch, was first released in 2017.