Last call, will the Switch surpass the PS2 or not?

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
As of March 31st, the Switch had sold a total of 152.12 million units, around 8 million fewer units than the PS2. The Switch 2 came out in early June and with its almost 100% backwards compatibility, made the Switch pretty much obsolete. The Switch right now is likely sitting close to 155 million, so right around what the DS sold. Does it have the legs to reach 161 million, or will Nintendo discontinue it before it does due to the popularity of the Switch 2 and their desire to focus on the new system rather than wasting warehouse space for the 8-year-old veteran?
 
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I Dont Think So No Way GIF
 
No.

PS2 had the dvd player and basically the whole console market to itself. Maybe if PS6 is going to bomb, which it will not.

Also, Switch 2 is nothing more than a stronger Switch 1. No unique features. It'll do just fine at around 90M in six years.
 
Does it even matter? It's a very different world now than it was back then. Even if it doesn't, in the current era of digital games and subscriptions the Switch was probably far more profitable than the PS2 ever was even at lower sales. The PS2 was so cheap it almost given away towards its later years while the Switch price has barely moved.
 
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It'll be entirely dependent on whether or not Nintendo drops the price of the Switch 1.

If they drop the price to $199 or less, especially before the holiday, I'll say yes. But if Nintendo holds firm on their $299 price, then honestly I doubt it.
 
If they keep manufacturing it. Hell yes!

They even said the whole "you can buy a switch if the switch 2 is too expensive"

So, its a yes from me dawg. ( stock dependant)
 
No way, when it'll be close enough, Sony will find another warehouse full of PS2 and the total will magically grow to 165m, then 170m, etc... Switch will never have a chance, is over.
 
If they lower the price and it's on the market for 2 more years then yes

If it's on market for only 1 more year and price isn't lowered and with switch 2 slowing it down then it will end at 156-158 million

I'm guessing it's currently at 153.5 - 154 including current quarter so they have 6 million to go

I could see a lot of people buying switch 1 this holiday if switch 2 is sold out, so it will probably be the last decent holiday for switch 1, think they will sell 2-3 million over holiday quarter
 
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That's a tall ask but if they reduce the price on it and provide bundles on something like Metroid prime 4, they could get close.
 
Easily.. they only need to sell what.. 15 million more consoles? They just need to not discontinue it for a few years and it'll exceed 160m units relatively easily imho.
 
It might, doesn't really matter though, Switch achieved the legendary status like the PS2 and DS before it. The fact that Nintendo was able to sell 150kk+ in 2025 is amazing.
 
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already has in the US, Europe and Japan.

according to dirty quick google search in the past, there were a lot of PS2s (~20mn+) sold in Asia somewhere after the PS3 came out. I'm assuming that wasn't Japan.
 
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Maybe, if Nintendo really wanted to they could sell it underdeveloped markets. I'm pretty sure that is how the ps2 continued to sell after the ps3.
 
sony is lying about ps2 sales
They keep miraculously finding sales in Antarctica, Greenland, Neverland lol.
Switch probably already passed it.

Switch will be the best sold console ever
 
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Probably, but it doesn't deserve to. PS2 is too good to be overcome by a platform that couldn't run launch titles at a decent frame rate. But it's a different market, so here we are.
 
As much as we're all team GOAT and don't really want to see a manifestation of pure nostalgia and greatness knocked off of the top spot by a filthy hybrid with stick drift, the fact that it retained the crown for this long despite the huge growth of the market in the last couple decades is impressive. Even if it is beaten there are probably associated metrics that might never be beaten.
 
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I think so. There is already a big asterisk for pretty much all of the top selling consoles and handhelds anyway that you could say tilts metrics.

PS2 - Ridiculous amount sold as the cheapest DVD player most could find.
Switch - Also seen as a handheld, many are multi-Switch households.
DS - Casual gamers
Wii - Motion control fad
 
There's going to be lots of used switches on the market now, it will be difficult.
Not impossible tho, just keep its price low and provide proper 2-3 more years of support with games and switch can make it, ofc same way like in ps2's final years, bulk of sold units gonna have to come from poorer countries, so not north america/europe/japan anymore.
 
Doesn't look like a price cut is coming, so I doubt it at this point. It will be very close though and I think it will just exceed the DS.
 
It probably will, but I think the funniest possible outcome would be if it ends up somewhere between 160 and 165 million lifetime sales, too close to be absolutely sure whether it beat the PS2 or not, and we're all cursed to have this debate forever.
 
Iirc the forecast is an additional 4.5M sold by March 2026, i.e. ~157M total. And we already know Nintendo is going to support Switch (1) with new software in 2026 as well.

So my guess is they'll beat the DS before March 2026. And then they'll beat the Ps2 by March 2027 or March 2028.
 
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No way, when it'll be close enough, Sony will find another warehouse full of PS2 and the total will magically grow to 165m, then 170m, etc... Switch will never have a chance, is over.

this pretty much, Sony will keep bumping up PS2 sales number
 
I'm predicting the Switch will outsell the PS2. Probably by this time next year. Price cut or not people will still find value in a cheaper option with a huge library of games.

Kids are aging into those early gaming years every day. And every day a parent or relatively casual player will think what it offers is good enough.

If the 3DS sold like 13 million(?) after the Switch released I feel like Switch is going to do more than crawl passed that finished line.
 
In sales yes since gaming is way more popular now with way more gamers but in games it's still far below PS2 as a whole. Even if they release two great Zelda games which would be the most ideal scenario for the Switch 2. It's still not close to the PS2's number of good games.
 
As much as we're all team GOAT and don't really want to see a manifestation of pure nostalgiaand greatness knocked off of the top spot by a filthy hybrid with stick drift, the fact that it retained the crown for this long despite the huge growth of the market in the last couple decades is impressive. Even if it is beaten there are probably associated metrics that might never be beaten.

You're about to have your dreams shattered breh.
 
As much as we're all team GOAT and don't really want to see a manifestation of pure nostalgiaand greatness knocked off of the top spot by a filthy hybrid with stick drift, the fact that it retained the crown for this long despite the huge growth of the market in the last couple decades is impressive. Even if it is beaten there are probably associated metrics that might never be beaten.
I'm pretty sure, aside from units sold, the Switch has crushed all the other PS2 metrics measurable.
 
Yes, they have yet to do a price cut which should put it in impulse buy. They also need to aggressively push into new markets. I would expect them to sell this through 2026 and reach another 10-15m units worldwide in that time.
 
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