Why are Nintendo Switch sales peaking much later than other Nintendo consoles?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Shadow1980 said:

The PS4 & Switch having the same curve was a coincidence, and at the regional level was only true in the U.S., and even then it didn't last.

The PS4 had a relatively flat sales curve in the U.S., at least for its first five years (for non-Nintendo consoles, Gen 8 was the flattest generation). Meanwhile, the Switch's baseline in 2018 was essentially flat, with that year being up as a whole from 2017 only because of a big YoY jump in holiday sales that year (deals like the then-new MK8DX bundle probably helped with that). But in 2019 the Switch experienced a decent amount of growth even prior to the Lite's release in September. Why the growth after the relative flatness in 2018 in the absence of any obvious stimulative factors? Increased attention could have been a factor. Something had to be causing sales to grow (and it wasn't games, because all its big hitters were Q4 releases). But despite that growth, it appeared to have stopped in early 2020. Then the pandemic hit.

Super Mario Party, Pokemon Let's Go, Smash Bros, and NSMB U all released within a 4 month window during late 2018-early 2019.  All of those games are in the Switch's top 10.  Yeah, it actually was games causing Switch sales to grow.

Last edited by The_Liquid_Laser - on 22 February 2021