Nintendo Switch 2 Beat the PS4 to Become the Fastest-Selling Console in US History

Alongside life-to-date sales nearly doubling the original Switch in the same period, it also offset declining yearly hardware sales.

While it may not have surpassed the original Switch’s first-year holiday sales, the Nintendo Switch 2 still dominated 2025 in the United States in grand fashion. It topped hardware sales charts for the year in unit and dollar sales, according to Circana analyst and senior director Mat Piscatella on Bluesky. Unsurprisingly, it was the best-selling console across both metrics last December.

Perhaps more importantly, however, it finally broke the curse of declining year-on-year console sales with a six percent increase in spending for December at $1.2 billion and nine percent higher annual spending at $5.4 billion. At 4.4 million units sold since its release last June, its life-to-date total almost doubled the original Switch’s install base within the same period.

But if all those accolades weren’t enough, Piscatella revealed that it’s the fastest-selling video game console hardware platform in the region’s history. Yes, even faster than the PS4 within seven months – in fact, the Switch 2’s sales were 35 percent higher. Sony didn’t exactly limp out of the year with the PS5, though, ranking second in unit and dollar sales.

As always, it remains to be seen if Nintendo can continue this momentum, especially with analysts predicting price hike this year due to tariffs and RAM shortages.

Hardware – December hardware spending increased by 6% when compared to a year ago, to $1.2 billion. Unit sales in the month fell by 8% versus December 2024, while the average sales price increased by 18%. Annual spending finished 9% ahead of a year ago, at $5.4 billion.

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.507Z

Hardware – Nintendo Switch 2 led the hardware market in both unit and dollar sales during December and the 2025 year, helping offset year-on-year declines across other platforms. PlayStation 5 placed second across both measures and time periods.

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.508Z

Hardware – Nintendo Switch 2 finished its 7th month in market with a life-to-date US installed base of 4.4M units, nearly double the installed base of the original Nintendo Switch on a time-aligned basis.

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.509Z

Hardware – Nintendo Switch 2 remains the fastest selling video game hardware platform in tracked history. Unit sales of Nintendo Switch 2 are 35% ahead of PlayStation 4’s sales pace after 7 months in market.

Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 2026-01-22T14:00:07.510Z
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