Switch preorders go live in Japan - and are gone in minutes

[Aerys]

NATO said:

The problem is, Nintendo fans are a limited audience, selling out at launch is nothing new for any device, hell it could break records the first week and still sell terribly in its lifetime.
GameCube sold poorly, Wii sold extremely well on the back of the motion control craze, immediately after the success of the Wii, we got the WiiU which is looking like it won't break 15m lifetime.
Before the GameCube we had the N64 which while popular didn't sell terribly well either.

Handheld has dropped significantly in popularity with the 3DS launching in a period where almost everyone has a smartphone and aside from the bumps brought about by releasing new hardware models of the same device, thus artificially bumping the platform totals as the core fanbase go out and re-buy newer models, ultimately you're looking roughly at a Nintendo fanbase of around 25-35m worldwide as of the Wii era, and I think that number itself will likely have dropped somewhat over the last 5 years, too.

 

This is evident by simply reflecting upon your own purchases, i rarely meet a 3DS owner who does not have more than one 3DS, it's actually a lot more common for me to encounter people who own more than two than it is less than two, which goes a long way to illustrate the replication in sales for the handheld platforms, something Nintendo is fully aware of and has systematically taken advantage of over the years with multiple generation releases of the same platform, GB , GBC, GB lite then GBA, GBASP, GBmicro then DS, DS lite, DSi, DS lite xl, DSi xl, then 3DS, 3DS xl, n3ds, n3dsxl, etc.

 

Whether or not they can do the same with the switch remains to be seen but in my opinion as long as the 3DS remains on the market, the switch will be seen as just a home console and not a portable, and that is what is going to restrict its lifetime sales.

Those thinking the switch will hit 50m+ sales are mistaken, especially if Nintendo are too reluctant to take the switch's direct competitor (3DS) off the market within the next year or so.

Exactly, finally someone who understands, Japanese will see more Switch as home console, especially when you know it has à paid online, no handheld consoles ever had à paid online, its à first that wont help Switch sales