Mummelmann said:
The Switch has sold insanely well, the same can't be said for the 3rd party software overall on the platform.Â
In the top 30 all-time sales list, only 3 titles are non-Nintendo titles or franchises (Monster Hunter, Stardew Valley, and Minecraft). Minecraft having surprisingly low sales at around 6 million also shows us something about the overall interest level of 3rd party title shoppers on the Switch (heck; I think it even passed 2 million globally on the Vita with its poor installed base). No 3rd party game besides Minecraft seems to have sold beyond the 5 million mark on the Switch, only a handful managed 4 million. Meanwhile, a whooping 21 1st party titles have sold 12 million or above; that's 21 titles selling twice or more that of the highest selling 3rd party game, that's too much not to be pegged as a significant trend on the platform.Â
In the top 100 list, only 23 games are 3rd party, of which almost every single one is an Indie title, puzzle/board game, or rhythm game. The odd title which falls under more classic AAA, or at least AA status, are titles that barely scrape above 1-1.5 million in sales (RE: Revelations Collection, Dragon's Dogma 2, Dark Souls: Remastered, are among those).
Nintendo platforms are sometimes insane money-making machines, for Nintendo, but their strained relationship with 3rd parties is well-known, and not built wholly on spite and childishness (as many would otherwise tell you). The Wii and Wii U had the same issue when it came to selling 3rd party titles, this simply has not been Nintendo's strong suit since the early nineties and back. |
Minecraft at 6m and you believe it? The footnote on Wikipedia assigns this figure to physical sales of Minecraft in only Japan, France and Spain. So no digital sales included and only three countries being added up.
Your post looks a lot like you've made your conclusion beforehand and then tried to make facts fit. This explains the circular logic of "no big investments from AAA third parties to begin with, resulting in no 5m+ sellers for them, therefore their lack of investment is justified." Monster Hunter Rise is the only real AAA third party release on Switch and that one cleared 5m without problems. The rest are late ports or low effort ports, so no surprise that they didn't sell huge numbers.
What's your guess for the question how many millions of third party software were sold on Switch 1 in total?
