The hybrid handheld-home console Nintendo Switch is proving its popularity over the few months it’s been available in the US beating the likes of the PlayStation 4 according to data from The NPD Group covering the August 2017 period.
In August 2017, total US video game sales were US$568 million — this includes hardware, software (PC and console) as well as video game accessories.
Drilling down to just year-to-year hardware sales, 2017 has seen US$1.7 billion in consumer spending, up 17% from the previous year.
This growth is being helped out primarily by the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo’s classic mini line-up.
As of the current year-on-year stats, the PlayStation 4 is still the best-selling console. It’ll be interesting to see how the Switch sales will continue to perform as it nears the year mark and whether it will beat out the PS4 overall.
In other places like Japan, there are still shortages of the Switch due to high demand. Some stores are using lotteries to pick who will have the chance to buy a Switch as shown in this Tweet which shows a line of about 5000 people waiting in line for the lottery:
ビックカメラ池袋のSwitch抽選の並びが想像を超えてた…5000人くらいいるんじゃないか pic.twitter.com/JFYkcW4jCC
— ゆっちー (@yucchi190) August 5, 2017
Source: Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella), US Video Games Analyst @ The NPD Group
