The Game's Industry website released an article going in detail just how the new release of gaming titles, alongside improved hardware, has helped to maintain the gaming industry as a whole in a thriving environment in a post-pandemic world, stabilizing into a new normal state, as well as helping it grow even more than what it was before.

In this new article titled "The US video game industry gets back to growth", depicts several factors that are influencing the gaming market in the current day, with an expected growth of around 3% for the US, nearing 58.3 billion USD. In terms of hardware, products alone contribute around 7 billion out of the 57+ billion USD in video game expenses, with a growth of around 19% from last year.

One of the points of interest from this article, comes from the same talk about hardware sales, which is related to that of the Nintendo Switch. In the article, it's mentioned that the Nintendo Switch held a very strong 2023, with the release of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom helping with hardware sales, and not only that, but also helping the Nintendo Switch to finally surpass the sales of the Nintendo Wii on the US back in July of 2023, with the Switch trailing behind just a bit from the Xbox 360 by a million, and the PlayStation 2 by 5 million:

Switch has also continued to perform strongly in 2023, helped by the release of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. In fact, the US lifetime sales of Switch hardware finally surpassed those of Wii in the US market during July 2023. Switch lifetime sales now trail Xbox 360 by less than one million units, and PlayStation 2 by fewer than five million.

It's worth noting that the sales numbers combine all versions of the Switch, including Switch Lite and Switch OLED.
It might only be a matter of time before the Switch pairs up with the most successful consoles (PS2, DS) in terms of sales, but with the current rumours of a new Switch revision, or even a Switch successor on the horizon, it's still uncertain if the Switch will get there in time before said console appears and the Switch stops being sold.

Source

 

[ChibiMofo]

Re-releasing the same console multiple times and being extremely popular has that effect.

Good for the Switch, I never really liked the Wii too much as a console as Nintendo tried to sell a gimmicky console with a lot of shovelware crap.

That being said, it's great as a GCN Slim!

Nintendo didn't sell much shovelware for the Wii. Crappy 3rd party companies did. With the exception of Wii Music, the vast majority of first party games for the best selling and most popular console (not handheld, which is what the Switch is) in Nintendo's history (which also won the 7th Generation over the PS3 and X360) were great. In fact Super Mario Galaxy was the game of the decade according to Metacritic and others. Clowns with "gimmicky" insults never got the Wii nor why the rest of the world did. (And hardly anyone ever bought a Wii because it could play old non-motion-controlled GC games. From its release in 2006 forward, no old GC game had a resurgence in sales due to 100 million people now having a console capable of playing them.) It was as if the Wii was an insult to manchild-gamers who spent their entire Monday through Friday on their mother's couch with their toughest decision in life being Halo or Call of Duty?

And yes, the Wii not only competed (and won) against the PS3 and X360, but it also competed against the DS, and for a short time, the 3DS. Nintendo's attention was divided between the handheld and console during that time. With the Switch, there was no such division of resources, and 100% of their hardware sales were for a handheld that could be hooked up to a TV (which still doesn't make it a console). In light of that, it is only surprising that it took the Switch this long to catch up with the Wii. Of course combined Wii/DS sales leave the Switch in the rear-view mirror, but no one except Nintendo shareholders care about that. The Switch has had an amazing run, but it hasn't been as successful an era for Nintendo overall as their peak during the Wii/DS days. That will always be Nintendo's peak both commercially and innovatively. There never has been anything like the Wii, which is why non-gamers love it and hard core gamers loathed it.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Dude. The Switch is flooded with what you call "Shovelware". There's a truckload of cheap games that range from kinda decent to totally abysmal. If it isn't a game that is poorly designed just to show porno girls to you, it's some garbage ten-cent game with no real goal or replay value that is made by a no-name in his mom's basement who just wants to make a buck.

As good as the 3DS and Wii U were, they had quite a bit of shovelware too, and I've noticed that some of it has migrated to the Switch.

​

As for the amount of units sold mentioned in this article, I have reason to believe that it might be a bit overblown (by Nintendo, not by Game Industry). Even so, I don't believe it will ever surpass DS sales, as we're very late in the game for that now.

It sure does, but in terms of quality games the Wii kind of starves for it as there are so many shovelware (essentially do your research for good Wii games).

In comparison, the Switch has a ton of first and third party games while the shovelware is mostly ignored/forgotten.

Plus, it always irked me that the Wii was SD when the other two consoles were in HD, now I'm fine with it playing via a component cable (official).

Crappy 3rd party companies did.

That's true and what I meant. Nintendo is guilty of it for allowing it on their consoles, though.

 

[SylverReZ]

Nintendo didn't sell much shovelware for the Wii. Crappy 3rd party companies did. With the exception of Wii Music, the vast majority of first party games for the best selling and most popular console (not handheld, which is what the Switch is) in Nintendo's history (which also won the 7th Generation over the PS3 and X360) were great. In fact Super Mario Galaxy was the game of the decade according to Metacritic and others. Clowns with "gimmicky" insults never got the Wii nor why the rest of the world did. (And hardly anyone ever bought a Wii because it could play old non-motion-controlled GC games. From its release in 2006 forward, no old GC game had a resurgence in sales due to 100 million people now having a console capable of playing them.) It was as if the Wii was an insult to manchild-gamers who spent their entire Monday through Friday on their mother's couch with their toughest decision in life being Halo or Call of Duty?

And yes, the Wii not only competed (and won) against the PS3 and X360, but it also competed against the DS, and for a short time, the 3DS. Nintendo's attention was divided between the handheld and console during that time. With the Switch, there was no such division of resources, and 100% of their hardware sales were for a handheld that could be hooked up to a TV (which still doesn't make it a console). In light of that, it is only surprising that it took the Switch this long to catch up with the Wii. Of course combined Wii/DS sales leave the Switch in the rear-view mirror, but no one except Nintendo shareholders care about that. The Switch has had an amazing run, but it hasn't been as successful an era for Nintendo overall as their peak during the Wii/DS days. That will always be Nintendo's peak both commercially and innovatively. There never has been anything like the Wii, which is why non-gamers love it and hard core gamers loathed it.

At last, a great opinion from ChibiMofo.

 

[DragonMals]

Np

I wished that CTGP worked without the disc as I have an extracted version of the game, but I don't want to go off topic much.

 

[JeepX87]

In all honesty, I just wished that Nintedno can go back to the home console busniess. I;d imagine that they would either revamp the already existing switch to make it as strong as modern consoles to this day, or they would go back to making handhelds like the 3ds and having a stronger console like the Wii. I love how they're remastering some of the GameCube stuff on here too like Metroid Prime and Pikmin 1+2 along with Super Mario Sunshine. It's almost like the ultimate console. We'll see how Nintendo goes in the next year.

Nintendo don't make new console that is equal to next-gen power since 2001 after disappointed GameCube sales and they went with different way by release Wii and not compete with Sony and Microsoft directly. Nintendo tried with Wii U but disappointed sales pushed them to find other way is hybrid console, known as Switch that lead to successful sales.

Nintendo has economical reason to not make next gen console to compete with PS5 and Xbox Series directly.

It's not a consistent 15 FPS, but it drops to that while struggling to maintain 30 in TotK and Scarlet/Violet. Won't surprise me if Metroid Prime 4 is Switch 2 exclusive so that it doesn't run worse than Prime 1 and 2 on GCN.

Latest patches fixed the FPS issue and it is on game developers for not optimize their games for Switch.

Switch's hardware isn't big issue but it has to be optimized.

Nintendo classified Metroid Prime 4 as Switch title.

In comparison, the Switch has a ton of first and third party games while the shovelware is mostly ignored/forgotten.

Yeah but in eShop on Switch, I had to scroll and scroll to find games whichever are on sale, but I use Nintendo website most of time because they are easy and organized.

I do think that add "Indie" tab in eShop store may help to keep organized but indie developers probably don't like it because they know that customers would ignore them.

Yeah, shovelware on Wii was awful.

 

[DragonMals]

Nintendo don't make new console that is equal to next-gen power since 2001 after disappointed GameCube sales and they went with different way by release Wii and not compete with Sony and Microsoft directly. Nintendo tried with Wii U but disappointed sales pushed them to find other way is hybrid console, known as Switch that lead to successful sales.

Nintendo has economical reason to not make next gen console to compete with PS5 and Xbox Series directly.

While I can understand your point of view, things can change for them and I hope that they can at least upgrade the overal specs. It'll make things better not only for their customers but for them theirselves. Who knows?

 

[JeepX87]

While I can understand your point of view, things can change for them and I hope that they can at least upgrade the overal specs. It'll make things better not only for their customers but for them theirselves. Who knows?

They do with next-gen that is successor to Switch - faster CPU and GPU. Faster and more RAM. Larger flash size, dubbed Switch 2 but real question is when. Some rumors said next year. Some said 2025, Some said 2027 in worst scenario.

Switch is basically overclocked PS3 or dubbed "PS3 Pro". Some developers tried to make Switch games look like closer to latest console, but it was mistake when they pushed too hard.

Release next-gen is no easy task for Nintendo because they don't want to repeat of Wii U and they want to be sure to make successful.

 

[RichardTheKing]

Makes sense - the Switch is a FAR better console than the Wii ever was.
Screw you and die, pointer-based motion controls, you dysfunctional fuck. Traditional controls are ALWAYS, ALWAYS better.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

I don't like the fact that a console with halfassed software and lacking basic services by 2023 standards is selling so much.

just like the wii were in 2011, and that was that made the wii awesome.

By that time the PS3 and the X360 were sunk in DLCs, season passes, day 1 massive updates, game as a service, paid online and so on. Wii was outdated for all of that and that was a huge positive.

Today switch is outdated too, but sadly not enough outdated to not have all those shitty current day gaming practices. I wish switch were as outdated as the wii on the services side.

 

[DragonMals]

They do with next-gen that is successor to Switch - faster CPU and GPU. Faster and more RAM. Larger flash size, dubbed Switch 2 but real question is when. Some rumors said next year. Some said 2025, Some said 2027 in worst scenario.

Switch is basically overclocked PS3 or dubbed "PS3 Pro". Some developers tried to make Switch games look like closer to latest console, but it was mistake when they pushed too hard.

Release next-gen is no easy task for Nintendo because they don't want to repeat of Wii U and they want to be sure to make successful.

All I just hope is that the next Nintendo console will be just as great or ot, a little less greater than the current gen consoles. Nintendo doesn't need that all power to make a great game. I'm a guy that doesn't care about the graphics and a teeny bt of framerate in games. As long as the game itself is great, then I'm gonna have a fun time playing it. Why I say a teeny bit of Framerate is because sometimes I could be questoining why a game looks worse than what I intended for it to be. Gen IX pokemon for instance.

Post automatically merged: Aug 28, 2023

I wish switch were as outdated as the wii on the services side.

Can't agree more. The Switch online was a pointless addition to the switch and I call the WiiU eShop miles better than that. Why can't we get that but get Kablooey on the Super Nintendo Online app?

 

[Kioku]

This is just… laughable… the Switch honestly isn’t “terrible”.. but it’s odd to me that something so barebones, outdated, and sloppy is doing so damn well..

 

[Xzi]

Switch's hardware isn't big issue but it has to be optimized.

4GB of RAM absolutely is an issue, that's on par with Xbox 360. And if Nintendo has to drop the resolution to 480p in docked mode to "optimize" their games, then it's simply not viable to port anything with next-gen visuals.

 

[JeepX87]

4GB of RAM absolutely is an issue, that's on par with Xbox 360. And if Nintendo has to drop the resolution to 480p in docked mode to "optimize" their games, then it's simply not viable to port anything with next-gen visuals.

Xbox 360 has 512 MB RAM and PS3 has 256 MB + 256 MB RAM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_specifications#Memory_and_system_bandwidth

Wii U has 2 GB RAM.

Switch has more RAM than Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3, however 1 GB RAM in Switch is allotted for OS and 3 GB is allotted for game.

Latest patches already optimized Zelda: TOTK and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet without downgrade the visual and fixed a lot of bugs.

 

[Kioku]

Xbox 360 has 512 MB RAM and PS3 has 256 MB + 256 MB RAM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_specifications#Memory_and_system_bandwidth

Wii U has 2 GB RAM.

Switch has more RAM than Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3, however 1 GB RAM in Switch is allotted for OS and 3 GB is allotted for game.

That’s fair and all, but 4GB (3 if we get petty) is NOTHING in todays technological realm.

 

[JeepX87]

That’s fair and all, but 4GB (3 if we get petty) is NOTHING in todays technological realm.

That's Nintendo for you because Nintendo isn't interested to compete with Sony and Microsoft.

 

[Xzi]

Xbox 360 has 512 MB RAM and PS3 has 256 MB + 256 MB RAM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_technical_specifications#Memory_and_system_bandwidth

Wii U has 2 GB RAM.

Switch has more RAM than Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3, however 1 GB RAM in Switch is allotted for OS and 3 GB is allotted for game.

Huh dunno how I got X360 confused with something else, but regardless 4GB was barely enough to run demanding games in 2008. 8GB would've been extremely cheap when Switch launched in 2017. They handicapped the system's longevity big time by nickel and diming the specs.

 

[JeepX87]

Huh dunno how I got X360 confused with something else, but regardless 4GB was barely enough to run demanding games in 2008.

Game developers during X360 and PS3 days had to heavily compressed to make games run with less RAM, compared to PC in 2008. They do with Switch today.

I believe that you probably mixed up with flash storage.

It is bad deal to compare Switch with PC in 2017 since Switch is designed and made to run the games from X360/PS3 days.

The RAM cost when Xbox 360 came out wasn't cheap and they initially threw 256 MB RAM in, until Epic complained about not enough, so MS beefed up to 512 MB before Xbox 360 spec was finalized.

 

[newo]

Imagine 28mb of RAM.

 

[Xzi]

It is bad deal to compare Switch with PC in 2017 since Switch is designed and made to run the games from X360/PS3 days.

So was Wii, and that actually ran Nintendo games at 60 FPS for its entire lifespan. 4GB RAM was not enough for android-based phones in 2017, and so it certainly wasn't enough for a gaming console also running on ARM.

 

[nWo]

Well, from a company perspective, then they should launch something big in time with christmas. It would be the last big push for the console before the new one next year. I am really happy with this because the Switch has given me so many, many great moments on its lifespan. It is an unforgetable ride.