Nintendo may have just ruined its only chance to break a longtime record held by PlayStation. For almost 20 years, Sony has been able to tout that it has the best-selling video game console of all-time in the PlayStation 2. Over the course of its lifespan, the PS2 sold a whopping 160 million units around the globe, putting it well out of reach of sales numbers for the Nintendo DS, Game Boy, and Xbox 360. And while the PS2 is currently still the king, Nintendo was quickly making a push to surpass the 160 million units milestone with the Switch. Now, following a new decision from the company, it seems unlikely that this achievement will happen.
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As of this week, Nintendo revealed that it would be making a shocking decision to increase the price of the Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED. This move is a baffling one as it comes about well over eight years after the Switch first launched. By this point in the life cycle of most video game consoles, prices tend to fall. Instead, as a result of tariffs levied by the United States on other countries, Nintendo has been forced to bump up the cost of the Switch or risk losing money on sales of the hardware.
This move is one that Nintendo itself clearly didn’t want to make and is instead something that it felt forced to do. For the time being, similar price increases aren’t coming to the Nintendo Switch 2, but Nintendo did note that “adjustments may be necessary in the future.”
Although the price of the Switch going up is disappointing, most who have wanted to purchase the platform at this point have likely already done so. To date, the Nintendo Switch has sold a little more than 153 million units. Even without a change in value, the Switch was already beginning to see its sales trajectory slow over the past year. With the Switch 2 having just launched in June, this slowdown will only amplify further.
What this price change almost certainly will do, though, is guarantee that the PS2 is going to remain the top-selling console ever. For Nintendo to beat out PlayStation, it would need to sell roughly 7.5 million units of the Switch from this point onward in its life. This feat is one that, while not impossible, now seems quite implausible. Given that the difference between the price of the Switch 1 and the Switch 2 is even closer than it was before, anyone in the market for a Nintendo console will likely just pay a bit more to get the newest version of the hardware. While this could certainly change if the Switch 2 also gets a drastic bump in cost, for now, there’s really no reason for anyone to purchase a brand-new Switch, Switch Lite, or Switch OLED.
Perhaps even with a price increase, the Switch will still find a way to sell a couple of million more units in the months and years ahead. If it does, it will end up passing the total sales of the Nintendo DS, which currently sits as the second best-selling video game platform at 154 million units. Even with a bump like that, it still wouldn’t be enough to put it into the number one spot.
For now, those at Sony have to be breathing a sigh of relief. While it previously seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Switch would end up becoming the highest-selling video game console ever, the PS2 now seems poised to retain its title. And with difficult market conditions hindering the performance of the Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2, it looks like the PS2 could end up being the king of the consoles for decades to come.
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