The two best-selling consoles in US history are officially both Nintendo, as the Switch bumps the PS2 down to third place

Link from Zelda: Breath of the Wild posing for a photograph in a warrior outfit

The PS2 might be one of the best-loved consoles ever, but the Nintendo Switch has officially overtaken it as the second most purchased piece of video game hardware in US history.

"Lifetime unit sales of Nintendo Switch have now exceeded those of PlayStation 2 in the US market," writes ex-Activision and Warner Bros. Games analyst Mat Piscatella on Bluesky. "With its 46.6 million units sold life-to-date, Switch now ranks 2nd in all-time units sold across all video game hardware platforms in the US, trailing only Nintendo DS."

This news shouldn't be as surprising as it might sound. The Switch has only been ramping up in popularity since its 2017 launch, earning stripes for its attractively low sales price compared to the likes of Xbox and PlayStation consoles. With the PS2 having sold 160 million units globally in its lifetime, according to a 30th-anniversary post, it makes sense that the humble Switch has been nipping at its heels for quite some time.

With the holidays around the corner and no sign yet of the Switch 2, Nintendo's flagship console will no doubt keep racking those numbers up. What is it about those flimsy yet eye-catching Joy-Cons that keep us flocking back despite the markedly less powerful engine? Well, you tell me.


From Zelda to Mario, check out the best Nintendo Switch games to play next, or the best PS2 games if you're still championing for the 2000s

Jasmine Gould-Wilson
Staff Writer, GamesRadar+

Jasmine is a staff writer at GamesRadar+. Raised in Hong Kong and having graduated with an English Literature degree from Queen Mary, University of London in 2017, her passion for entertainment writing has taken her from reviewing underground concerts to blogging about the intersection between horror movies and browser games. Having made the career jump from TV broadcast operations to video games journalism during the pandemic, she cut her teeth as a freelance writer with TheGamer, Gamezo, and Tech Radar Gaming before accepting a full-time role here at GamesRadar. Whether Jasmine is researching the latest in gaming litigation for a news piece, writing how-to guides for The Sims 4, or extolling the necessity of a Resident Evil: CODE Veronica remake, you'll probably find her listening to metalcore at the same time.