It’s still a rumor at this point, but the Nintendo Switch might have outsold the Xbox One worldwide. The Switch reportedly sold 1,149,723 units during the week of December 7, which would put it at 45.92 million worldwide sales. The Xbox is only at 45.24 million. It comes a somewhat of a surprise since the Xbox One is so much older than the Switch, but since it’s only the worldwide sales, there is some logic to it.
To start, the Xbox One came out November 22, 2013 while the Switch launched on March 3, 2017. Xbox had a three-year lead, so it’s weird that they’ve fallen behind in the worldwide numbers. One fact that may explain a lot of this is the Xbox One didn’t release in Japan until September 4, 2014, so anyone in that country that wanted a next gen console would have gotten a PS4 instead. Even though the Xbox’s sales have improved since launch, something like this would definitely hurt their worldwide sales.
The Switch also has way more console exclusives than Xbox does, and most of them are more highly-rated among fans and critics alike. Game like Super Smash Bros and Super Mario Odyssey have sold over 15 million copies each, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which is the highest selling game on the console, has sold 19 million.
On the other hand, a recent Xbox exclusive, Gears 5, has sold approximately around 3 million copies. Granted, this game is much newer than some of the Switch games mentioned, but it is unlikely that it will rise by over 10 million copies sold within its lifespan.
Even if it turns out that these stats are wrong, at this rate it won’t take long for the Nintendo Switch to pass up the Xbox. Microsoft should take this as a learning opportunity and not make the same mistakes with the Series X next year.
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