Since the Nintendo Switch launched back in March last year, it has dominated console sales and approached milestones at a rapid pace. It was thought to be at the expense of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, however both consoles are still on track for record sales over their predecessors.
This was disclosed by The NPD Group, in which analyst Mat Piscatella said that the “combined sales of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One continue on a record-setting pace. Over the first 50 months in market for each console, the combined hardware installed base of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now exceeds that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18 percent, and that of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox by 4 percent.”
These numbers include both Sony and Microsoft’s iterative upgrades, 2016’s PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X which launched last year. Both target enthusiasts, boasting higher 4K resolution through various techniques. While this isn’t necessarily true 4K all of the time, it gives reason for hardcore fans to upgrade their hardware.
It’s possible that the success of the PS4 and Xbox One despite the introduction of the Switch comes from the capabilities of both platforms other than gaming. The Nintendo Switch still lacks on-demand video services and music services in many areas of the world, while the PlayStation 4 and more so the Xbox One in particular is touted as a media centre complete with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and the likes.
KitGuru Says: The only current generation platform I don’t own to game on is an Xbox One, simply because of the Play Anywhere program allowing me to access the games on PC. Otherwise, I game on almost every platform available, provided I can find the time. What is your favourite platform and why?
sure sure……nintendo switch is killing them
Not surprised really. I’ve never seen Nintendo’s consoles comparable to the others. Talk about hardware, Sony and Microsoft try to go as powerful as they can on a budget, Nintendo takes a very different approach. Talk about target audience, again, Sony and Microsoft are fairly similar, Nintendo not so much. Talk about content and games, Nintendo has an almost completely different ecosystem on their consoles, with many great first party titles, all of which follow a very different genre to that of the shooters and racing games of the other consoles (yes there are first party titles too, but the consoles aren’t almost reliant on those libraries).
People decide to buy the Switch for very different reasons than they do when deciding between the PlayStation or Xbox.