Versus: Switch 2 Took the Quarter 2.67 Million to 2.6 Million — and Trails by 71.55 Million for Life

Nintendo and Sony reported on the same day, November 5, and the two reports argue with each other. The quarter says one thing; the lifetime table says the opposite. Both are the publishers' own numbers — no trackers, no estimates anywhere in this piece — as covered in this library's earnings piece (sibling draft 41). Here's the whole race, round by round, with the running score kept honestly.

Round 1: The quarter — a dead heat

In the September quarter, Nintendo sold 2.67 million Switch 2 consoles. Sony sold 2.6 million PS5s. A five-year-old console matched, almost unit for unit, the hottest launch in Nintendo's history in its second quarter on sale. Call this round a draw — and notice what a draw means: the PS5 is not fading, and the Switch 2 is not running away with anything yet.

Running score: level, 2.67 to 2.6.

Round 2: The lifetime table — no contest

Switch 2's lifetime total is 26.35 million. The PS5's is 97.9 million. The gap is 71.55 million consoles — the PS5 has sold nearly four Switch 2 lifetimes. The caveat rides with the claim, because it has to: Nintendo's machine is five months old; Sony's is six years old. Both facts matter, and neither cancels the other. Momentum is Nintendo's. The installed base — the thing games are sold into — is Sony's by a mile.

Running score: Sony, by 71.55 million.

Round 3: The money

• Sony's games business took in ¥1.2 trillion in the quarter, up 9%, with operating income of ¥220 billion, up 83% — a jump flattered by the comparison, confessed here because it belongs with the number: the same quarter last year carried a Bungie impairment charge. Sony also raised its full-year games forecast by 6%.
• Nintendo's half-year (April–September): sales of ¥966.0 billion, down 12.1%, but operating profit up 49.1% to ¥216.5 billion and net profit up 11.0% to ¥220.9 billion — selling fewer, richer things. Digital sales jumped 60.5% to ¥249.6 billion. Nintendo left its full-year forecast unchanged at 16.5 million Switch 2 consoles.
• One cold splash, labelled for what it is — an outside note on the publishers' numbers, not one of them: Reuters noted Nintendo's September quarter on its own showed operating profit of ¥73.9 billion, down 16% and below estimates — the half-year glow is partly the launch quarter's heat.

Running score: both richer than a year ago; Sony's quarter is the bigger business, Nintendo's half is the faster-growing profit.

Round 4: The software and the crowds

Switch 2 software stands at 73.21 million units lifetime, led by Mario Kart World at 16.48 million — attach rates most launches dream about. Sony counters with Marvel's Wolverine at 2.4 million copies since September 15 and a PlayStation monthly audience of 127 million users, up from 119 million a year earlier. Nintendo sells you the game with the machine; Sony rents you the city the machine lives in. Both models printed money this quarter.

The verdict

On the quarter: a draw, 2.67 to 2.6. On everything that compounds — installed base, audience, back catalogue — Sony is lapping the field while Nintendo builds the fastest start it has ever had. The honest headline is the boring one: the new machine is selling like a phenomenon, and the old machine is too. No forever winner gets crowned off one quarter — the race gets interesting when Switch 2's second holiday meets the PS5's sixth, and the next scoreboard arrives with the holiday quarter's reports. This desk will be counting.