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Kai_Mao on 08 August 2022
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Jumpin said:
Kai_Mao said:

Let me just say that it’s incredible that Switch reached the 100+ million milestone not only at such a rate but without any of the notable games:

- Call of Duty
- Battlefield
- GTA
- Madden

Even the FIFA games the Switch gets are far cry versions compared to the PS4/5/Xbone/Xbox Series versions.

I just point these particular games out because they are the usual multiplat games that have mainstream appeal and sell millions on every entry. GTA is a sales juggernaut especially with GTA V still selling almost a decade after its initial release on PS3/Xbox 360.

The Wii, DS, 3DS, and even the Wii U had games from at least one or two of these series. The DS even had an original GTA game called Chinatown Wars.

I’m sure the developers of these respective series probably don’t care at the moment as they’re getting their money from the other platforms. They probably don’t care much for the potential from the 100+ million Switch user base. But it is interesting to point out.


I think Nintendo is seen as a bit of a different part of the industry than the PC-centric gaming titles that often do well on PS/XB consoles. While those brands are fairly mainstream, the Nintendo brand is the most mainstream in the industry currently, and of all time.

To give some perspective on sales: Madden’s all time top seller (5.77m combined on all platforms) would only rank 20th on Switch’s top selling games list. Battlefield’s all time best seller (17m combined on all platforms) would hit 8th on the Switch, and even Call of Duty Black Ops - the alltime best selling CoD game (30.72m combined from all releases and platforms) would be a distant third on Switch, and probably 5th by sometime next year when Breath of the Wild and Smash Bros Ultimate surpass it.

As well, those games tend not to sell very well on Nintendo platforms (as I said above, Nintendo is kind of a different part of the industry), and have never been system sellers for Nintendo. There are some GTA games on Switch: remasters of GTA3, Vice City, and San Andreas. I’m not sure how well a new GTA game would impact Switch sales (or its successor). Rockstar North (previously known as DMA) used to be an exclusive developer for Nintendo until the N64 era. There was some bad blood there because of the toxic relations with third parties in the Yamauchi era—I’m not sure that remains. There was a time when GTA could have been a Nintendo exclusive franchise.

Ah shoot I forgot about the GTA Trilogy remaster. But even then it released in very bad shape for all consoles so whatever sales potential it had on switch sorta dwindled by launch.

Well Take Two/Rockstar Games released Chinatown Wars on the DS, an original GTA game. So their relationship with Nintendo must be workable at least.

Though I would think having COD and Madden on Switch and selling decently for what they are (3-5 million) would still add to the software sales on Switch. There is an argument that having COD and Madden on PS and Xbone have sort of inflated their respective overall software sales because they sell so well every year.