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Miyamotoo on 16 December 2018
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colafitte said:

I still don't understand this notion about some posters here saying that Switch is tracking way better than 3DS at the moment....

3DS at the end of 2011 -> 13'2M
NS at the end of 2017 -> 13'1M

3DS at the end of 2012 -> 14'1M -> 27'3M LT
NS at the end of 2018 -> around 16M -> around 29M LT (30M if you want to be optimistic)

Why people keep saying Switch is doing much better when the data says otherwise??. Is doing better, yes, but not that better. And we're talking sales, not talking about price or price cuts, because then, PS4 and XBO were way more expensive than Switch.

For example, 3DS did 5'5M during 2012 in Japan. The real difference with Switch is that Switch is doing better in the west than 3DS but Switch is doing worse in Japan.

I think this mentality has spread because Switch is doing way better in USA than 3DS and the american-centric focus in the press and in the media gives Switch way more representation. But the numbers are there.

And by the way, 3DS, sold 13'2M in 2011, 14'1M in 2012 and 14'3M in 2013. And after that, it never reached 10M in a year again....

Again, its far more easier to compare official ship number than anything else:

-3DS launch vs Switch Launch (march 2011. vs march 2017) - 3.6m vs 2.74m (have on mind that Switch was completely sold out on launch while 3DS wasn't)

-3DS FY 2011. (April 2011. - March 2012) vs Switch FY 2017. (April 2017. - March 2018) - 13.5m vs 15.05m

-3DS FY 2012. (April 2012. - March 2013) vs Switch FY 2018. (April 2018. - March 2019) - 13.95m vs 18m+ (bare minimum)

-3DS FY 2013. (April 2013. - March 2014) vs Switch FY 2019. (April 2019. - March 2020) - 13.53m vs 20m+ (projected year with all things we know about 2019. Switch year for now, including confirmed games, very possible price cut and new revision)

 

So like you can see, 3DS only has stronger launch month and only reason for that is that Switch was completely sold out while 3DS that wasnt and 3DS actually received huge price cut only 6 months after launch. So right after launch month, Switch in its first hole fiscal year whithout any price cut and with huge stock problems sold better than 3DS that had huge price cut (from $250 to $170-180) in order to start selling better. In second full fiscal year Switch will sell around 5m units more than 3DS did in same year, in third year difference will be even bigger.

And yes, when comparing Switch vs 3DS sales, point that 3DS had huge price cut while Switch still did not definitely counts, because that points that Switch achieving this sales without need for huge price cut compared to 3DS, and that means much healthier sales in any case.

Yes, 3DS was doing better than Switch in same time period in Japan, but on all other markets outside Japan, Switch is selling much better than 3DS in same time period. Also for comparison, Switch was selling better than 3DS in Japan until 3DS didn't receive price cut, only after that huge price cut 3DS had stronger sales in Japan than Switch did in some time period. What is currently keeping Switch from selling better or similar to 3DS in Japan is $300 price point that for plenty people is very high price point, for people that look at Switch only like handheld device and on market where plenty of people buying handheld device per person (and $300 Switch still has high price point for something like that). Also have on mind that 3DS sales in Japan were very strong in any case, 3DS third best selling gaming hardware ever in Japan, counting every home console and every handheld, only DS and GameBoy and GameBoy Color combined sold better than 3DS in Japan.

Last edited by Miyamotoo - on 16 December 2018