According to an NPD group, Nintendo sold 1,13 million Switch units across the original Switch, Switch Lite, and the new Switch OLED model of the whole month of November. 550,000 units sold during the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday. With these figures, the Switch has been the best-selling console for 35 of the first 36 months, losing its name in September in terms of the value on the month. And since the number of the reported numbers are clear and accurate, November has been driving the Switch by 94 million tons since it was sold. Despite the large number, continuous problems with supply chains and hardware parts have limited the number of new consoles available across the board for the Switch, Xbox X|S and PS5. The Nintendo president confirmed that that the company couldn’t produce a sufficient number of products because of the continued supply issues, which could lead to the holiday season. If you want to find out how bad the supply situation is: The Switch sold less than November last year PS5 + Xbox barely = what Switch sold in total The PS4, XB1 and Wii U (yes Wii U) sold more in Nov 2014 than Switch + PS5 + Xbox in Nov 2021. https://t.co/px6rpkb8Nk – a post-trial inty: t.o. Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) December 13, 2021. Senior industry analyst at Niko Partners explained the effect the supply issue has had on console sales this year by comparing it to the holiday seasons in particular.
The switch sold fewer units in November this year than in November 2020. PS5 and Xbox X|S combined barely managed to get the Switch number this November. The combination of Switch and PS5, and X/S didn’t match the sales of the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One from November 2014. This is notable as the Wii U was hard sold for, and only the second year since then the PS4 and Xbox One were selling.
If anything, it was very impressive that the Switch could sell its products as well. But the lack of availability for next-gen consoles has arguably contributed to the holiday season’s dominant performance. If the supply chain problems are resolved or at least mitigated in 2022, the PS5 and the S4X series will likely sell at a better rate, the S4 proving to be a competitive competitor for the Switch, offering a discounted cost of $299 for families and players.
