Which is the most popular gaming console since the original television plug-in boxes appeared during the 1970s? How can such a qualification be made? The company NextDayDelivery has attempted to do so by conducting a study of the most successful game consoles of all time.
Those who a fans of the Japanese invention will be not doubt pleased to see the Nintendo Switch coming out in the top spot. In fact, Nintendo takes both the top two spots, with the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo DS.
In terms of what is bubbling below, a second Japanese led technology initiative follows with the next generation PlayStation 5. This is followed by other Sony products until the U.S. Xbox Series X appears in ninth place. Such is the greater dominance of Sony over Microsoft that Sony’s consoles make up five of the top ten spots .
The standings in the poll is based on sales data for game consoles over time. Hence the qualification for ‘popular’ is related to units sold.
With the chart-topper, released in 2017, the Switch has sold over 90 million units in just four years of production, giving it the top spot in the list with an average of 22 million consoles sold per year.
Many of these sales came during 2020, with sales on games for the console increasing 122 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown. The Switch is a hybrid console that can be used via a television screen and as a handheld at the same time.
The full data set is:
| Console | Units sold (million) | Years in production | Average sold per year (million) |
| Nintendo Switch | 90.54 | 4 | 22.64 |
| Nintendo DS | 154.9 | 9 | 17.21 |
| PlayStation 4 | 116.44 | 8 | 14.56 |
| PlayStation 5 | 13.4 | 1 | 13.4 |
| PlayStation 2 | 157.68 | 12 | 13.14 |
| PlayStation 3 | 87.41 | 9 | 9.71 |
| Wii | 101.64 | 11 | 9.24 |
| Game Boy Advance | 81.51 | 9 | 9.06 |
| Xbox Series X | 9 | 1 | 9 |
| PlayStation | 102.5 | 12 | 8.54 |
| Game Boy | 118.69 | 14 | 8.48 |
| Nintendo 3DS | 75.94 | 9 | 8.44 |
| PlayStation Portable | 81.09 | 10 | 8.11 |
| Xbox 360 | 85.8 | 11 | 7.80 |
| Xbox One | 50.37 | 8 | 6.30 |
| Nintendo 64 | 32.93 | 6 | 5.49 |
| Super Nintendo Entertainment System | 49.1 | 13 | 3.78 |
| GameCube | 21.74 | 6 | 3.62 |
| Nintendo Entertainment System | 61.91 | 18 | 3.44 |
| Xbox (Original) | 24.65 | 8 | 3.08 |
| Sega Genesis | 29.54 | 11 | 2.69 |
| Atari 2600 | 27.64 | 16 | 1.73 |
The data suggests that although the PS4 and Xbox One have been a part of a fierce console war for the past eight years, it Sony’s console that is more successful in having sold more than double the units of Microsoft’s counterpart.
In terms of changing trends, both the PS5 and Xbox Series X feature in the top ten despite only being in production for only one year.
