Although Sony has dominated the high-end video game console market for almost three decades, the Japanese tech giant has never had much success with handheld gaming devices. That market is still dominated by one of its biggest rivals, Nintendo, which sold an impressive number of its consoles over the years.
According to data presented by SafeBettingSites.com, Nintendo sold 557 million units of Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, Game Boy, Game Boy Advanced, and Nintendo 3DS, its five best-selling handheld consoles of all time.
Nintendo DS is the Top-Selling Handheld Console of All Time with 154M in Lifetime Sales, only 4M Less than the PS2
After the release of the original Game Boy almost 35 years ago, Nintendo had been carrying out a two-pronged approach with its game consoles having both a home console and a portable handheld console on the market. As the first example of this strategy, the 1990` Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy hit more than 160 million in combined sales, showing gamers supported this approach.
The Japanese gaming giant kept the strategy going till the release of Nintendo Switch in 2017. Acting as both a portable and home console system, Switch became a smash hit in the gaming community reaching around 126 million in lifetime sales. But that is still 30 million units short compared to Nintendo DS, the best-selling handheld console ever.
According to Statista and Nintendo`s data, even 20 years after its release, no handled gaming console has managed to dethrone Nintendo DS, which hit an impressive 154 million in lifetime sales. That is only four million units less than the lifetime sales of PS2, the best-selling gaming console of all time.
As expected, Nintendo Switch sits at the high second place on the top-selling handheld consoles list. Game Boy ranked third, with 119 million units sold worldwide. Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 3DS follow, with 82 million and 76 million units, respectively.
Statistics show the two Sony handheld consoles ranked on this list saw much lower sales figures than Nintendo`s devices. PlayStation Portable, released in 2004, hit 76 million in lifetime sales, the same as Nintendo 3DS. PlayStation Vita, released eight years later, saw five times smaller sales figures, with 15 million in lifetime sales.
Nintendo`s Handheld Consoles Outsold Sony`s Top-Selling Consoles by Almost 60M
The lifetime sales figures of Nintendo`s handheld gaming devices are pretty impressive, even when compared to Sony`s top-selling consoles. Statista and VG Charts data shows that Sony has sold 497.9 million PS2, PS4, Play Station, PS3, and PS5 consoles, or almost 60 million less than Nintendo`s top-five handheld gaming devices.
The lifetime sales of Nintendo`s top handheld console, Nintendo DS, is only 4 million units behind the world`s best-selling console of all time, PS2. However, Nintendo Switch, which hit 126 million in lifetime sales, already outsold all other PlayStation gaming consoles and became the second top-selling console in the market dominated by Sony.
