Nintendo Switch outsells PlayStation 4 to become fourth best-selling console in United States

Consumer spending on video games dipped a bit this past quarter, but Nintendo has cause to celebrate: the Nintendo Switch is now the fourth best-selling video game console ever in the United States.

The news comes from The NPD Group, a market research firm based in the United States that focuses on consumer markets. According to NPD, the Switch overtook the PlayStation 4 (PS4) in lifetime sales during Q1 2022, which ended this past March.

This puts the Switch in fourth place in terms of lifetime sales in the United States, right behind the PlayStation 2 (PS2), Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. In terms of global sales, the Switch is currently the third best-selling console, trailing the PS4 (by ~9 million units) and the PS2. This quarter could see the Switch overtake the PS4 globally, placing it firmly in the silver spot for worldwide sales.

Nintendo previously stated the Switch is only about halfway through its lifecycle, so sales will inevitably increase, albeit at a slower rate.

This is evidenced by the rest of NPD's report, which stated that the video game market in the U.S. slowed by about 8% year-over-year. Consumer spending for the first quarter of 2022 remained relatively high at US$13.9 billion, but this quarter marks a noticeable drop in overall spending.

The mobile games market also cooled off this quarter; sales dropped 10% from Q1 2021. While overall spending on mobile games declined, "usage of the most popular titles [continued] to grow," said Randy Nelson, head of mobile insights at Sensor Tower.

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