PS2’s best-selling console crown in jeopardy as Nintendo Switch passes PS4

The PS4 was a huge success, right? Sure, but the Nintendo Switch is shaping up to be something else entirely. As part of its quarterly results, House of Mario announced overnight that its hybrid console Now has crossed 122.5 units sold worldwide, which actually puts it ahead of Sony’s previous platform. While the PS4 is technically still selling, its current tally sits at 117.2 million units, and that figure is unlikely to improve dramatically in the coming years.

This means that Nintendo now has the PS2’s unprecedented record; Before it hits 155 million units sold, but would you bet against it right now? Honestly, well The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Still to be released and with no sign of an immediate successor in sight, it feels inevitable that Sony’s sophomore system will be phased out in the next few years.

It’s probably worth pointing out that the Nintendo Switch’s portable format lends itself to multiple purchases, while most households will likely settle for a single PlayStation under their television. Still, the real story here is how well Nintendo’s software is selling: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, has now sold 52 million units worldwide. Sony is doing pretty well with its own software sales – God of War Ragnarok just passed 11 million units, for example – but its Japanese rival is in a different stratosphere in this department.