Nintendo is proving that sometimes newer isn’t always better. A recent report on console sales shows that the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the first half of the year in terms of both unit sales and total dollar sales. The four-year-old console outperformed both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in the United States.
This data, which comes from American Market Research Group NPD, also broke down the sales for each console for the month of June. While the Nintendo Switch had the best sales for the past six months, it was the Xbox Series X|S that outsold the competition in terms of dollar sales for June, though the Switch still outperformed in regard to units sold. Not to be outdone, the PlayStation 5 remained the fastest unit-selling console hardware platform in United States history. This is based on lifetimes sales for the console after eight months on the market.
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Mat Piscatella, of the NPD group, shared all of this data that the group found through his Twitter. For instance, he tweeted that the month of June saw video game hardware dollar sales leap by a whopping 112 percent year-on-year, reaching $401 million in sales. This is the highest total achieved in a June month since 2008 where sales reached $617 million.
US NPD HW – June video game hardware dollar sales jumped 112% when compared to June 2020, to $401M. This is the highest total achieved in a June month since 2008 ($617M). Year-to-date hardware consumer spending has increased 45% compared to 2020's first half, to $2.3B.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 16, 2021
The data also showed that the PlayStation 5 exclusive Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was the best-selling game for June, while Mario Golf: Super Rush came in third. Though, launch month dollar sales for Super Rush were the highest ever achieved by a Mario Golf game. Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War nabbed the second spot with MLB: The Show 21 and Scarlet Nexus rounding out the top five best-sellers for June.
For Nintendo, the top ten best-selling games specifically sold on Nintendo platforms all went to Nintendo-published titles. Minecraft was the only third-party title on the list. This caps off a great first half of the year for Nintendo. It was recently revealed that the Switch had sold over 84.59 million units since its launch back in 2017, surpassing the Xbox 360 in terms of lifetime sales. With the new OLED model of the Nintendo Switch hitting shelves this October and a ton of new games on the way, like the highly-anticpated Metroid Dread, it looks like Nintendo is aiming to hang on to their best-selling crown.
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