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Forums - Sales Discussion - Switch overtakes total PS4 sales in Japan, in less than half the time

Wyrdness on 02 June 2019
OTBWY said:
It wasn't much. The Switch is just a much better product proposition in Japan than any other system out right now. When Pokemon and Yokai Watch come out the distance will be much greater between them, leaving the PS4 in the dust.

It's performance in Japan also guarantees that Dragon Quest XII will hit the platform in future as well, games like Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem are also strong performers in Japan.



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VideoGameAccountant on 02 June 2019

Since the Wii U lineup is coming up, let's actually look at Wii U's first party line up.

This is what you could get on the first year of the Wii U

  • Nintendo Land
  • New Super Mario Bros U
  • Game and Wario
  • Wii Fit U
  • Wii Party U
  • Wonderful 101
  • Pikmin 3
  • Wind Waker HD

Here is the Switch

  • Breath of the Wild
  • 1-2-Switch
  • ARMS
  • Splatoon 2
  • Super Mario Odyssey
  • Kirby Star Allies
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
  • Pokken Tournament DX

Mario 3D World actually took a year to come out on the system. Galaxy came within the first year as well. Now, the Wii U did have New Super Mario Bros and Wii Fit, but by this time the good will for the New games was running out as none of them offered anything new to the other games. Wii Fit is one of the best selling games of all time, but Nintendo never game customers a reason to pick up a Wii U for that game, and the rest of the line up wasn't wowing them. The one Zelda game was an HD version of one of the worst selling Zelda games. Now look at Switch. Mario and Zelda in year 1. New IP. Mario Kart. Follow up to one of the few Wii U successes. A massive RPG. Switch was successful because it's software line up was far richer. You had both great single player offerings (Odyssey, Zelda, Xenoblade) and multiplayer offerings (ARMS, Mario Kart, 1-2-Switch, Splatoon). The variety on the Switch was far better without being polarizing. Nintendo also followed up on stronger series. Splatoon, even on the Wii U, was a strong title than Pikmin. The Wii U line-up is only "strong" if you look at it like a corporate executive. "They LOVED Wii Fit so they'll buy our system. They LOVED New Super Mario Bros Wii so they'll buy U." When you put them side-by-side, it's night and day.



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RedKingXIII on 02 June 2019
Kai_Mao said:
RedKingXIII said:

It had a good western third party support for the first year, yes. But I don't think this is relevant when we're talking about Japan. These games aren't big sellers or system sellers there. 

And at least Switch had/has medium sized titles or ports to keep the momentum going when there wasn't/is no new major titles. Wii U had nothing, basically. But yeah. I agree. Switch has software droughts. I don't think it's severe as the Wii U ones, though.

Arguably, I don't think Switch has had much of software droughts. For the most part, the Switch has had multiple smaller games release on almost a weekly basis. And tbh, a month or two of no big first party games is nothing compared to the Wii U's first party timeline.

Some will say the first half of 2019 is not great for Nintendo's first party output, but I think it's been passable. January was NSMBUD, which sold beyond even most people's expectations. March was Yoshi's Crafted World, which appears to have good legs so far. June will soon have SMM2. Then you had smaller first party titles like Box Boy! + Box Girl! and Tetris 99.

I would argue that the droughts really depends if you had a Wii U or not. I had one, and played some of the Switch ports, so I have no intention of buying the games again at a full price. So for me at least, I would say there was some droughts. In 2017 for example, I played BOTW on Wii U and had no intention of buying Mario Kart 8 again. All Switch had to offer for me in these months between launch and Splatoon 2 were indies and some smaller games. I wasn't interested at all.

But that's just my situation anyway. I understand if you or anyone feel different about this matter, not everyone had a Wii U and not everyone played its great games. And even if you had a Wii U and wants to revisit its games on a new fresh console... That's also ok. It's a very subjective matter, I guess.



linkink on 02 June 2019
RolStoppable said:
linkink said:

I don't see what's so funny about it. it launched with the sequel to one of the best selling games ever in japan, it had  good third party support early on. a year later it had a amazing Mario 3d world, then a few months later Mario kart 8, followed by smash. This is all within 2 years of launch, these games we're also a gigantic leap in graphics over the wii, a much fresher experience then Wii U ports. 4 massive franchises  in 2 years span, but Wii u was already dead at that point regardless of Nintendo franchises, if was handheld i would eat my own shorts if in those 2 years if it didn't sell 6 million.

What's so funny about it is that this thread saw lots of activity since the last time I visited it, but nobody posted a list to support your claim of a damn solid lineup. Not even you yourself could be bothered to give it a sincere shot. Instead you respond to me by listing games that released in the second year because it dawned on you that the first year was anything but solid.

This has been the theme throughout this thread. My side of the argument has repeatedly provided data to back up claims while your side of the argument has yet to provide any credible data to back up the claims that are being made. Instead the goalposts get moved and double standards get employed. One example of this is how you dismiss Switch games because they've appeared on a previous system, but then turn around to add The Wind Waker HD to bolster the Wii U list. Another example is in the above quote where you extend your original claim of a damn solid first year lineup to include games released in the second year.

The question of home console or handheld console you put in the room regarding Wii U's chances for success has very little value, because the Wii U failed in every country it was released in. You propose that Wii U would have sold better if it had been portable, but it would be just as legitimate to say that the Wii U would have sold better if it had been a better home console instead of what it actually was. Your line of argument just returns us to the question how the PS4 could comfortably outsell the Vita in Japan despite the latter being a portable console. The answer to that question remains that software is more important than hardware.

WIIU was selling like a dead console within 2 months of release WW. it doesn't have much do with the software it was a undesirable console. it's like xbox in Europe, it's not software why it's failing its just not a desired or needed console, a Nintendo handheld is a much more desirable product in all markets. japan is different that they just don't care for console gaming, since the game they love don't require the power of a home console, it won't be a desired item.



Wyrdness on 02 June 2019
RedKingXIII said:

I would argue that the droughts really depends if you had a Wii U or not. I had one, and played some of the Switch ports, so I have no intention of buying the games again at a full price. So for me at least, I would say there was some droughts. In 2017 for example, I played BOTW on Wii U and had no intention of buying Mario Kart 8 again. All Switch had to offer for me in these months between launch and Splatoon 2 were indies and some smaller games. I wasn't interested at all.

But that's just my situation anyway. I understand if you or anyone feel different about this matter, not everyone had a Wii U and not everyone played its great games. And even if you had a Wii U and wants to revisit its games on a new fresh console... That's also ok. It's a very subjective matter, I guess.

Not having an interest in certain games doesn't equal a platform objectively having droughts though as even if we remove games that had WiiU versions the are still a number of games released WiiU on the other hand had no games released an example is the months after MH Tri Ultimate was released it went almost 4 months with no game released at all.

The games on the Switch that have never released on Wii U outnumber the total number of games the WiiU had released in general as WiiU had no answer for for example games like Doom, LA Noire, Skyrim, I Am Setsuna, Disgaea 5, Wolfenstein, Dragon's Dogma, Diablo 3, Dark Souls, Hellblade Senua, Civilization, Outlast etc... Even if these games don't interest you they are releases on the platform that WiiU has no alternative to so even if you removed games with WiiU versions you can still list a solid respectable library for Switch that beats out its home variant predecessor.



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linkink on 02 June 2019
RolStoppable said:
linkink said:

WIIU was selling like a dead console within 2 months of release WW. it doesn't have much do with the software it was a undesirable console. it's like xbox in Europe, it's not software why it's failing its just not a desired or needed console, a Nintendo handheld is a much more desirable product in all markets. japan is different that they just don't care for console gaming, since the game they love don't require the power of a home console, it won't be a desired item.

Go ahead and post the list of Wii U releases during January and February 2013.

At this point you are just trolling. Wii U did 57k-67k in January and February 2013 in the USA it's strongest market. The console just released with massive franchises in 2d mario, and had basically all the massive western franchises as well. if you think a couple of releases would have made a difference you really are out of your mind. So you really trying to suggest a month with out a release means the system just  plummets into a dead system territory of sales, get real. 

Last edited by linkink - on 02 June 2019

linkink on 02 June 2019
RolStoppable said:
linkink said:

At this point you are just trolling. Wii U did 57k-67k in January and February 2013 in the USA it's strongest market. The console just released with massive franchises in 2d mario, and had basically all the massive western franchises as well. if you think a couple of releases would have made a difference you really are out of your mind. So you really trying to suggest a month with out a release means the system just sales plummets into a dead system territory of sales, get real. 

Do you know of any console that has had good sales momentum without any new game releases?

We are not talking about momentum, it was selling like a dead system, There is a huge difference. Not even jesus himself could have saved it. Anyway it doesn't really matter, unless Nintendo releases a home console that competes with ps4/xb, and honestly they should try to with how strong there brand is right now. I would buy it, and you can prove me wrong in the process.



linkink on 02 June 2019
RolStoppable said:
linkink said:

We are not talking about momentum, it was selling like a dead system, There is a huge difference. Not even jesus himself could have saved it. Anyway it doesn't really matter, unless Nintendo releases a home console that competes with ps4/xb, and honestly they should try to with how strong there brand is right now. I would buy it, and you can prove me wrong in the process.

You have been proven wrong over and over again in this thread. Just because you deny it doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

Almost everybody agrees there was no saving the Wii U. you haven't proven anything, Kinda just seems like you are delusional. Most agree japan vastly prefer's handhelds, just because you think something, doesn't mean it's proof. Can you explain why N64 sold respectable numbers in US, yet flopped in Europe? or why xbox one flopped in europe yet is selling good numbers in the USA, it's not all about software. Preferences, Brand and desirable hardware play a major role. you even bring a pathetic argument that system just launched starting selling 50-60k a month cause there wasn't no releases for a couple of months. 



Signalstar on 02 June 2019

Alternate take:

The Wii U was such a colossal failure that Nintendo had to combine their handheld and home console departments just to beat the PS4.



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linkink on 02 June 2019
RolStoppable said:
linkink said:

Almost everybody agrees there was no saving the Wii U. you haven't proven anything, Kinda just seems like you are delusional. Most agree japan vastly prefer's handhelds, just because you think something, doesn't mean it's proof. Can you explain why N64 sold respectable numbers in US, yet flopped in Europe? or why xbox one flopped in europe yet is selling good numbers in the USA, it's not all about software. Preferences, Brand and desirable hardware play a major role. you even bring a pathetic argument that system just launched starting selling 50-60k a month cause there wasn't no releases for a couple of months. 

Yes, there was no saving the Wii U. Part of why is that its software pipeline was broken right out of the gate and the droughts started immediately after launch. Software sells hardware, so if there's no new software for an extended period of time, the hardware won't sell. That's why Wii U sales were so bad so quickly. Conversely, there were bumps to hardware sales when new software got released.

Yes, Japan prefers handheld consoles because they are more convenient and the only advantage that a home console can provide nowadays are better graphics which hardly anyone cares about. Still, if home console or handheld console was the only thing that mattered, the Vita should have sold better than the PS4. Since that didn't happen, the logical conclusion is that games are more important than the console itself. But since you keep being in denial that games matter, we get posts from you where you claim that the software droughts of the Wii U did no harm to its sales.

It's pretty easy to explain why the Nintendo 64 as well as the Xbox One sold respectable numbers in the USA, but not elsewhere. The rate of multiconsole ownership is historically much, much higher in the USA than anywhere else in the world, so international struggles of a console don't translate to the US-American market in the same way. The costs of electronics as well as disposable income allows US-Americans to buy more consoles as well as games than people of other countries. Indeed, it's not only that the average gamer in the USA buys more consoles, but also more games per console. The USA leads the world in tie ratios by a comfortable margin. An additional reason for the relative success of the Nintendo 64 and the Xbox One in the USA is software that appeals to the market. The Nintendo 64 heavily dominated the FPS genre in its generation, the Xbox brand in general has the image of the American console because of its software library.

Signalstar said:
Alternate take:

The Wii U was such a colossal failure that Nintendo had to combine their handheld and home console departments just to beat the PS4.

It would make more sense to say that Nintendo reacted to Sony's decision to only support one console going forward. Sony announced in mid-2013 that all of their American and European studios were going to make PS4 games, so Sony's exit from the handheld market was already a done deal at that point. If Nintendo hadn't combined their home console and handheld efforts, they would have been the only console manufacturer to support two separate consoles simultaneously which is an obvious competitive disadvantage.

You do realize sometimes software, cannot sale hardware, dreamcast, Xboxone in europe and wiiu are proof of that. like you that was part of the problem, only part of the problem, even you admit that at least were getting some where.

again nobody said  being a handheld is the only that mattered, but it will sell significantly more then a stationary home console givin the same software a portable will probably sell double what a home console would. PS4 has sold 10 times the software vita has in japan.

Your explanation doesn't explain why playstation consoles sell much better in Europe the USA, so it's void. Europe and USA, really have similar preferences when it comes to games, except that fifa is much bigger in Europe.