Nintendo Switch outsold PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in the US last month
The Switch has been the best-selling game console in America for two years now.
People bought more Nintendo Switch consoles than any other games hardware in the United States last month.
That's according to sales tracker NPD Group, which reports that the regular Nintendo Switch and Lite variant shifted 1.35 million units in the country in November. This was likely partly driven by both the Black Friday sales event and folks buying presents for Christmas. NPD says that this is the 24th month in a row that Nintendo's machine has come out on top.
“Nintendo Switch offers a unique proposition for shoppers this holiday season with the ability to play on the TV or portably in handheld mode,” Nintendo of America's SVP of sales and marketing Nick Chavez said.
“We continue to see unprecedented demand for Nintendo Switch, and we are pleased that people of all ages and gaming skill levels will be experiencing Nintendo Switch this holiday and beyond.”
In the US alone, the console has sold 6.92 million units. During the 11 months of 2020 so far, Nintendo Switch has shifted 426,000 units of hardware more than the machine managed in 2019 as a whole. No doubt this was driven by – what else? – the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has seen people stuck indoors for large parts of the year in order to slow the spread of the virus.
During November, the Nintendo Switch sold more units than the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S machines, which launched on November 10 and 12 respectively in the US. This will partly be because Nintendo's machine costs less and has a wider array of titles available for it, but will also likely be down to demand. Both Sony and Microsoft's brand new consoles were eagerly sought-after but there was a limited supply.
Microsoft has said that the Xbox Series X and Series S machines sold more units on release than any other 24 hours period; meanwhile, Sony has said that PlayStation 5 was its biggest console launch to date.
As of September 2020, Nintendo Switch has sold 68.3 million units around the world.