Switch 2 finally beats PS5 in US sales - it only took a Pokémon game to do it

After getting absolutely bodied by a five-year-old console for two straight months, the Nintendo Switch 2 has finally pulled off a comeback arc worthy of a shonen anime. According to new US sales data from Circana (via Push Square), the Switch 2 outsold the PS5 in both units and dollar sales for the period covering March 1st through April 4th - and yes, Pokémon had everything to do with it.

The PS5 wasn't exactly slacking - Sony's aging-but-still-cooking console actually posted a 3% increase year-over-year. That's not a bad stat for hardware that launched back when we were all stress-baking sourdough bread. But it wasn't enough to hold off Nintendo's big Poké-powered surge.

Two months of L's wiped clean

Let's be real here: the Switch 2 losing to a PlayStation 5 that old enough to have its own elementary school lunchbox was a bit of an embarrassing side quest. January and February belonged to Sony, which is the kind of plot twist that keeps Nintendo executives awake at night staring at the ceiling.

But March? March was Nintendo's respawn point. The Pokémon effect is basically a cheat code at this point - throw a mainline entry into the wild and watch the sales numbers go absolutely feral. It's almost unfair. Almost.

The meta question nobody wants to answer

Here's the thing though - if it takes a system-selling Pokémon drop just to beat hardware that launched in 2020, Nintendo might want to check if the Switch 2 has enough juice in its late-game build. The PS5 putting up a fight for two consecutive months without any major system-seller of its own is either a testament to Sony's install base loyalty or a yellow flag for Nintendo's new console.

Still, a win is a win, and Nintendo fans will absolutely be posting this sales data like it's a victory royale screen. According to the Circana data reported by Push Square, the numbers don't lie - March belonged to the Switch 2, Pokémon and all.

Whether Nintendo can keep this momentum going without leaning on its pocket monster crutch every single month is the real final boss here.