Nintendo just won the console war without releasing any games

The Nintendo Switch 2 is going into its third week of sales, and if the number of XDA staff who added one to their console collection is any indication, it's a hit. But you don't have to take our word for it, sales figures are out, and it's officially the fastest-selling hardware Nintendo has released. All of this has been achieved with no major first-party launch titles (sorry, Mario Kart World), no pre-release reviews, and only a handful of third-party titles, most of which are ports from other consoles.

While Microsoft has been worrying about where Xbox is going to live (spoiler: everywhere), and Sony has been reluctantly porting PlayStation titles to PC, Nintendo has once again shown it knows its audience. The Switch 2 is a mixed bag of improvements, sidegrades, and steps back for the second iteration, but it doesn't matter one iota to the fans. The console war is over, and Nintendo won it by not competing.

I know, I know, before the angry comments about how the console wars were made up to sell magazine headlines (remember when physical games mags were a thing?), just because something was coined for one purpose, doesn't make it any less real. The Xbox and PlayStation fanbases loved taking potshots at each other, and at PC gamers, but that let Nintendo win by attrition and by being nice.

Sales figures don't lie

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the fastest-selling console ever

Let's start with some cold, hard data. The Nintendo Switch 2 is the fastest-selling Nintendo console of all time. That's impossible to dispute, and shows exactly the appeal of Nintendo's consoles to everyone from casual gamers to hardcore ones. But it's one thing to talk about how it eclipsed the company's earlier efforts, because that was then and now is now, and the market is very different.

So, let's put this another way.

The Nintendo Switch 2 is the fastest-selling console—ever. Not just in Japan, where it has outsold the previous record holder, the PlayStation 2, by almost two to one. Not just in the U.S., where it sold over 1.1 million consoles in the first week, outstripping any previous sales records. But also globally, where it sold over 3.5 million consoles in four days. Not even a full week, and remember this is also supposedly a time of tariffs, supply chain shortages, scalpers, inflated prices, and everything that should have shut down a successful retail release.

In Japan, it has already sold more consoles than the lifetime sales of the Xbox Series X|S or PS5 Digital​​​​​​. Sure, Xbox doesn't do well in Japan, but consider this: it's also on pace to outsell the PlayStation 5 in all forms before six months have passed. The console war might have been more of a thing in Western countries, but it didn't even get started in Japan.

The ecosystem is a parade of classics

Nintendo knows how to keep its audience engaged. The company highlighted that the enhanced versions of several games would be free if you had a Nintendo Online subscription, at least with the upgrade that gives you over 300 games to play. There's an updated version of the Pro Controller, updated Joy-Cons that might still have stick drift issues but can now be used as a mouse, and a modernized GameCube controller that I MUST OWN.

See, I'm exactly Nintendo's target audience. While I played Colecovision, Atari, and Commodore 64 games, the NES was the first console that hooked me as a kid with a terrible attention span. I've owned almost every console since, several variants of Game Boy, and still haven't finished the games on Nintendo Online, let alone the ones I bought to play on the original Switch.

I'm sure Nintendo knows that everyone has a gaming backlog at this point, because there aren't enough hours in the year, let alone the week. Plus, it has a history of replayable bangers, and almost every single first-party title fits that description.

Even without a killer launch title

Sorry Mario Kart but you're not up to the grade

The Nintendo Switch 2 had 25 game titles at launch, but only a handful were either first-party or Switch 2 exclusive. The rest are a mix of enhanced Switch 1 titles, third-party ports, and, of course, plenty of Nintendo Online games from previous consoles back to the NES.

First-party games:

• Mario Kart World
• Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour

Third-party Switch 2 exclusives:

• Survival Kids
• Fast Fusion

That's it if you're only considering Nintendo or Switch 2 exclusives. There were 21 other games at launch, either enhanced versions of existing Nintendo games like The Legend of Zelda (Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom) or third-party ports like Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.

That latter point is perhaps the most pertinent, as many Switch 1 games ran horribly on the console, and the extra power of the Switch 2 will give players the experience that they expected years ago. Not exactly a sterling endorsement, but it is what it is, and finally those graphically demanding titles will get smooth framerates closer to the magic 60FPS mark.

It's still not a lineup of heavy hitters, with a mainline Mario title not even being mentioned in rumors, no Zelda continuation, and the only known big franchises, including Donkey Kong, Kirby, and Metroid, releasing later this year. But I don't see the Switch 2 sales fizzling out like the 3DS did,

Xbox is trying to become a PC

And we're not even sure if PlayStation knows what it's doing

While Nintendo was working on a console that might take the PlayStation 2's crown as the best-selling console of all time, the other console makers seemed a bit lost. Xbox (and Microsoft by default) is busy trying to be a PC, and has its sights on taking on the Steam Deck and the rest of the PC gaming handhelds. That's not a bad idea, especially as most of them run Windows 11, but Microsoft has an issue with executing on hardware designs, and I feel strongly that their efforts are going to make the rest of the PC handheld market better, at Xbox's expense.

Sony has refreshed the PlayStation 5 with several stealth SKU changes, two new slim models with a removable disc drive in case you don't want it, and a PlayStation 5 Pro that nobody really asked for. Oh, and a handheld, the PlayStation Portal, that only streamed from the PS5 when you were on the same home network at launch (even if it got remote broadband and cloud streaming capabilities later on).

Neither seems to know how to replicate Nintendo's successes. Xbox hasn't had a hit console since the Xbox 360, and only PlayStation has comparable unit sales. PC gaming handhelds aren't anywhere near, with the Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED selling (roughly) over 4 million units, but that took three years. The Nintendo Switch 2 did that in about one week.

Nintendo played its own game and won the war

With a huge back catalog on Nintendo Online, and plenty of Switch 1 games with endless replayability, it's perhaps no surprise that the Nintendo Switch 2 has sold like hotcakes. Some of that is likely attributable to Nintendo having hardware on shelves to sell this time, as I recall the Switch 1 was hard to find for months after its launch.

However, it's clear to me that both the sales figures and other avenues that the other two major console makers are exploring show that Nintendo has won the console war, without even trying. The company consistently strives to add some whimsy to every console, such as incorporating features like blowing on the microphone to move objects in-game or motion controls that actually work, and it deserves its time at the top.