Aug 2025 USA Sales: Massive Month for Single Player Games, PS5 Can't Catch Switch 2

I was under the impression Nintendo and the S2 were failing? Everyone on YouTube said so!

I was led to believe that HD2 sold like gang busters on Xbox, so I’m guessing error too.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Helldivers 2 was released for Xbox Series X|S on August 26, 2025. This chat is only covering 8/3-8/30. Which means it only counting 4 days worth of sales. It not counting September sales.

@get2sammyb
But I heard it from a Youtuber who just puts out news for the love of it (and wouldn't dream of sensationalising anything), who heard it from another Youtuber, who read it on reddit, where it was being posted by someone who has real sources, that obviously cant be named....

@AverageGamer

https://www.purexbox.com/news/2025/09/helldivers-2-xbox-launch-provided-substantial-uplift-in-revenue-data-shows

As an example.

I'm still curious to see if the Switch 2 can sustain the launch. After Pokémon they have no heavy hitters (Metroid will always be a D list Ninty title commercially) and third parties aren't really carrying the console with underwhelming attach rates.

Either way I expect PS5 console sales to be down until GTA VI now.

@cainhurst94 They could easily carry it just by making more switch 2 editions of their major titles... but heck if they care.

"Its availability has generally been excellent, though."

That's exactly what's constantly being forgotten. The PS4 and PS5 were unavailable for months, while the Switch 2 is available everywhere.

We'll see where the Switch 2 ends up. A total flop like the Wii U was nonsense from the start. But the claims that the Switch 2 will make all other consoles obsolete are just as *****.

The Game Key Cards alone are likely to have ruined any long-term third-party success.

Switch 2 has become my number 1 console since it was released, its a great machine.

I’ll probably buy a Switch 3 halfway through the gen so I got about 10 years worth of games to play. At the current rate Nintendo releases games I’m interested in, that’s probably only about 5 games though. Unless they have something like Astral Chain coming, which was the reason I bought a Switch at all.

@get2sammyb Wasn't Gears of War available on both Xbox and PS, vs just the Xbox release of Helldivers? (Don't know if they count PC in these sales charts)

Sports sports sports, big men with guns.

RIP America

Helldivers 2 selling less than the Demon Slayer game seems entirely implausible, in case anyone was wondering why it looks wrong.

@AverageGamer the point of discussion around helldivers 2 is regarding the Xbox chart specifically

@Sakai what’s great about it

@bluemage1989 I’ve never seen so much misinformation about a console before. It’s become the de facto way to farm engagement in the video game space.

@KawakiisaFraud physical media is becoming increasingly irrelevant at this point so I doubt the whole game key cards drama will have any long term impact.

@nomither6 Its better than the OG Switch, which was already a good console. As a farther its much more convenient than playing on the TV these days and I can just pick up and play whenever i have a few minutes due to the sleep mode etc. Its brilliant, would highly recommend

I wish we still got actual sales figures.

Lets get this into some sort of perspective. This gen has been available to play for years before the S2, people have been playing PS5 and SX a lot longer now. If all three had launched at the same time and there was no availability problems, do you really think the S2 would win? The S2 would be long past getting dusty by now, most people wouldn't even know where their controllers were anymore and it would be an 'oh yeah I forgot about that, lets have a go, not been on the Switch for ages' console.

@Anthony_Daniels there are a lot of positives with sports especially in youth leagues.

@Rich33 I heard it from a Spanish podcast...
(DEEP CUT ALERT)

@SBBuds I mean, the Switch/Switch 2 couldn't really be made and sold at a decent price at the same time the latest high-end consoles were released. Their offset-generation is an essential aspect of their existence.

Ignoring that, though, and pretending that all the generation's consoles could've launched at the same time, with their normal prices and launch line-ups: Then...yeah...

I mean, the Switch's demand is based on a lot more than there being no immediate console launches near its release. It would absolutely have sold better than the Series line, and it and the PS5 would likely be going back-and-forth on better sales numbers. Even looking at all of their respective launch line ups, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Pokemon Z-A, Air Riders, Metroid, and a spin-off to a Zelda game that would've have even been out at the time would keep interest in the console extremely high. Honestly, that line-up would've probably caught more of the public consciousness than Returnal, Rift Apart, and whatever Xbox had (I don't feel like checking).

Heck, in this hypothetical where the Switch 2 has magical future technology and game developers haven't really been designing for high-end PS5-level performance, it would also be getting more 3rd-party games. Or does that break the pre-established rules of the hypothetical? Otherwise, Switch 2 gets future multiplat games as exclusives, and the best version of Cyberpunk somehow... You know what, maybe this whole thing doesn't make sense...

I'm just going to end on an addendum to my first paragraph: the Switch 2 exists specifically as a console released years after the competition, launched at a strategic time when Nintendo had a good software line-up ready, interest in competition was mild, and production costs could be kept lower (until some orange guy ruined the supply chain). There's not much point considering a hypothetical, because there's not much you could logically conclude from it. It's not what happened, and if it did happen, everything could be different. It holds little relevance to any discussion about actual sales numbers.

@AverageGamer Only difference is on Xbox the majority will be playing on gamepass, and those who owned the original remake got this new version for free.

Sat here on holiday with my S2 on my lap.

Me thinks stories of tepid sales are greatly exaggerated! Perhaps copium by those who despite having 8 years to do so, didn't save their pennies and couldn't afford it.

Still maintain MK was mediocre though, so definitely no fan boy.

I'm thinking of getting a Switch 2 later this year before the inevitable price increase next year.

I will only get a Switch 2 for exclusives, as the 3rd party stuff plays at double frame rate on PS5/Xbox Series.

The internet hating or loving something has little connection to the popularity of the thing in the real world.

Given the massive popularity of the Switch and the fact Nintendo positioned the Switch 2 as a linear follow up (B/C, no big design deviations) it would be shocking if the Switch 2 wasn’t a huge success.

PS5 sales seem to be holding up well given that its price has risen a bit (as opposed to the old console norm of falling sharply).

Give me a single player offline campaign any day of the week. For me it’s more immersive and I can pause the game and step away any time to eat, bathroom breaks etc
In fact I’m hearing Battlefield 6 campaign is supposed to be the best one yet so looking forward to that!

@SBBuds not really, Nintendo has incredibly huge and loyal fanbase. Switch one proved that and Switch 2 repeats the process. In these days where Sony and MS release games that are lazy open world adventure games third person view the game library on Nintendo is really diverse and enjoyable.

Notice one thing PS5 great sales come from the fact PS4 sold great and people had their libraries of games they wanted to keep playing. It wasn’t the great list of PS5 exclusives that sold the console because that list was and still is poor compared to PS3/PS4 generation.
Same for Xbox Series sales, the very same.
At the same time Switch 1 was a completely new console that apart from some virtual console games required players to build their game library from the beginning. On a console hardware weaker from all competitors. Yet, it outsold all of them.
You can say Nintendo games are colorful, simpler etc but they are easy to enjoy and start playing. Switch 2 will just repeat the success, while I can bet PS6 and new Xbox sales will be worse than current generation.

@Leinad7 The Switch 2 (like the PS5) is a linear sequel to its popular predecessor which early in its life has benefitted heavily from B/C (Switch sales tanked once rumors of the Switch 2 started swirling). Furthermore the Switch 2 has seen a historically strong launch in part because it launch with more systems available than any prior system (great for gamers and the game industry, bad for scalpers).

Which parts of that statement do you disagree with and on what basis?

As for the certainty of a future PS and the probability of another Xbox, I think there are too many unknown data points (release dates, libraries, prices) to start predicting anything though that has never stopped the internet before.

https://gamerant.com/nintendo-switch-lifetime-sales-2025-slowing-down-forecast/

As for the first part, I just said almost the same using different words.
As for the second part, I believe people took hard lesson jumping into new generation PS5 and then waiting months and years for exclusive games, they won’t repeat same error and knowing these new AAA titles need many years to develop we can be almost sure there will be a lot of waiting in next gen as well. So why not keep PS5 and wait for several games to release before moving to next gen? That is what I will do this time.
Btw, I think we are unsure of handheld Xbox but the stationary one is already in production, they plan to release it somewhere around a year earlier before PS6 release.

It's alright.
Despite PS5 sales being outnumbered by Switch 2, I still see PS5 as my best PlayStation machine I have.
Thanks to Outright Games, Level-5, Team17, Microids, etc for providing 3rd party kids games for PS5.
I couldn't be happier to see more cute kids games for PS5 like Hello Kitty, BLUEY, Paw Patrol, Barbie, Smurfs, etc.

@Leinad7 The internet abounds with people unhappy with the PS5 and the Switch 2. That is reasonable because tastes vary. Objectively the PS5’s user engagement and game sales are high.

There are big spending gamers who own every platform under the sun and only care about games if they are exclusive to a platform but the vast majority of gamers own one dedicated gaming system, buy roughly ten games a generation and view consoles as game delivery devices. For such gamers the appeal of the likes of Clair Obscur, Unicorn Overlord, Silent Hill, CoD, Helldivers 2, Cult of the Lamb, Black Myth Wukong, Forza Horizon 5, Stellar Blade, Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3, Balatro, Genshin Impact, To a T and Metaphor Refantazio and suchlike has everything to do with the games themselves rather than where else they can or can’t be enjoyed.

All that aside I completely agree with your statement most people won’t but the PS6 early in when it launches in a few years’ time. That has always been the case with dedicated hardware. The majority of sales take place over years, not in the initial months. Price cuts (not a thing this generation sadly) and expanding libraries increase sales over time.