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curl-6 on 27 March 2024
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Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:

No Wii game "sold over 100 million on a 90 million userbase", and it sounds like the title you mean here is Wii Sports, which was bundled with almost every system, so not a useful comparison point against games that are largely sold standalone. Sales do not scale linearly with install base anyway; PS2 sold over 150 million yet only a handful of games on it passed 10 million copies sold.

Motion controls are the default control scheme in BOTW, TOTK, Splatoon 2/3, Luigi's Mansion 3, etc and they are how millions prefer to play.

If the audience for them was gone, games like Super Mario Party, Ring Fit, and Switch Sports would have flopped as motion controls are mandatory in those games, yet they sold over 20 million, over 15 million, and over 10 million so far respectively. All three of them actually sold better than Wii Party on Wii, and SMP sold better than all but 7 games on Wii. (And is on track to pass the next two in line, Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus)

Motion controls are alive and well and here to stay.

Looking at the top 10 selling games for both systems and like more than half for the Wii are motion games, whereas for the Switch it's not even close to that. Mario Party was a big selling IP established long before motion controls were implemented into the IP. 

Wii Top Sellers:

1. Wii Sports (82.9 mill)

2. Mario Kart Wii (37.3 mill)

3. Wii Sports Resort (33.4 mill)

4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii (30.32 mill)

5. Wii Play (28 mill)

6. Wii Fit (22.67 mill)

7. Wii Fit Plus (21.13 mill)

8. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (13.3 mill)

9. Super Mario Galaxy (12.8 mill)

10. Just Dance 3 (9.92 mill)

Switch:

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (60+ million)

2. Animal Crossing: NH (44.79 mill)

3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (33.67 mill)

4. Zelda: Breath of the Wild (31.67 mill)

5. Super Mario Odyssey (27.65 mill)

6. Pokemon Sword/Shield (26.17 mill)

7. Pokemon Scarlet/Violet (24.36 mill)

8. Super Mario Party (20.3 mill)

9. Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (20.28 mill)

10. NSMBU Deluxe (17.2 mill)

Lets be honest too, Ring Fit was likely bolstered heavily by the pandemic shut downs that closed gyms everywhere around the world and drove the home fitness category through the roof, look no further than Peloton that had sky high sales during the pandemic and has crashed since lock downs ended. 

Switch Sports has sold a respectable amount but it's currently only the 18th best seller on the Switch and probably soon to be overtaken by Mario Wonder. Compared to what Wii Sports/Resort were on the Wii (no.1 and no.3 top sellers), it's well below that. 

Ring Fit Adventure didn't crash when the pandemic lockdowns ended though, so that theory doesn't hold water.

15 of the 20 best selling Switch games have motion controls; as for Super Mario Party, it has outsold every pre-motion entry in the series by a huge margin.

Motion may not be the brand new novelty it was in 2006, but it is thriving on Switch and has established itself as a permanent feature of the gaming landscape.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 27 March 2024