Nintendo Switch finally surpasses PS2 in US sales

With 45.6 million units sold, the Nintendo Switch has officially overtaken the legendary PlayStation 2, becoming the second best-selling video game console in the US, behind the Nintendo DS.

This success marks the end of the era dominated by the PlayStation 2 in the field of non-portable consoles, hailed for its exceptional sales and widely recognized as one of the best of its era.

Nintendo Switch has now outsold the PS2 to become the second best-selling console ever in the US

— Culture Crave (@culturecrave.co) 2024-12-18T16:03:40.775Z

The PlayStation 2 (PS2), marketed between 2000 and 2013, was launched in North America in October 2000, and was until then the second best-selling video game console in the United States, with 46.5 million units sold.

It was behind the Nintendo DS, which dominated the ranking with 53.8 million units sold in the United States between its launch in 2004 and the end of its commercialization in 2014.

However, the Nintendo Switch, launched in March 2017 and still in production, has now narrowly surpassed the PlayStation 2.

Thanks to its revolutionary concept of a hybrid console, combining living room and portable, the Nintendo Switch has recorded exceptional sales, becoming Nintendo’s best-selling console.

It surpassed sales of the Xbox 360, which sold 42.7 million units between 2005 and 2016, as well as those of the Wii, marketed from 2006 to 2013 with 41.7 million units sold.

This success has once again reaffirmed Nintendo as the world leader in the video game sector.

However, while many video game fans are eagerly awaiting the next generation of Nintendo consoles, the Switch 2, rumored for release in 2025, the Switch’s popularity is experiencing a slight decline, with sales down 3%, probably due to the anticipation generated by this much-anticipated new console.

The Nintendo Switch has truly set itself apart from its competitors, at a time when the best-selling video game consoles were in the early 2000s.

By way of comparison, the Xbox Series X/S have sold just 14.5 million units since their release in 2020, while Nintendo’s previous console, the Wii U, recorded only modest sales of 5.3 million units in the US.