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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - DFC Intelligence (analyst) doesn't think the Switch will pass the 100 million mark

javi741 said:
javi741 said:

To be honest I find it extremely hard to believe the Switch will fall short of 100 Million, here are several reasons why:

-The Switch is over 3 years old now and Sales Year over Year are STILL growing, as Switch sales are up an insane 43% in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019, compare that to the Wii where the Wii within 2.5 Years into it's life-cycle started seeing declining Year-Over-Year sales which lead to the Wii having a much shorter lifespan in sales. The Switch still growing in sales over 3 years in is showing how the Switch will have a much longer lifespan in sales over the Wii, and the Switch is doing it with literally ZERO price cuts thus far, while the Switch Lite is cheaper most people still prefer the Regular Switch over the Lite. Once the OG Switch gets a price cut it'll increase the Switch's lifespan even more.

-Plus the Switch is a a rate of selling nearly 28Mil in 2020 alone, while the 43% growth in 2020 is likely inflated by the release of Animal Crossing, even a more likely 25% growth would result in the Switch selling 24 Million for the year. Making the Switch sit around 75 Million by the end of 2020, pretty much borderline outselling the 3DS's lifetime sales. The Switch sales need to die really quickly after 2020 for the Switch to somehow fall short of 100 MIllion, die to a sales amount that's unprecedented which is very unlikely.

-The Switch will also get Nintendo's FULL software support for the first time in Nintendo's history, meaning the Switch will be full of releases with little droughts for the next several years of the Switch's lifespan. And games are what sell people to game consoles the most, and the Switch will have a ton of them for the next several years making the Switch very appealing for all gamers to purchase.

-Also since the Switch is essentially a handheld, I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo try to milk the Switch as much as possible by releasing a multitude of Switch models to keep interest and sales momentum up. They did this with the Gameboy, DS, and 3DS and all were benefitial in maintaining the hype and buzz around those systems and a good amount of people purchases two systems in the same family, increasing overall sales. I'm sure a Switch Pro, maybe a console only Switch would help the Switch keep those sales up for a very long time.

-Also since it's a handheld, the Switch will age like fine wine no matter how anemic the hardware gets, usually consumers don't care much about graphics when playing portably. The 3DS, Gameboy, and DS were all very technologically inferior compared to their competitors even when they first released but they all killed the competition. However, the Switch I believe will age far better than those systems since the Switch when it first released had graphics comparable to Current Gen dedicated Home consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One, the Gameboy, 3DS, and DS often times had graphics comparable to last to 2 generations back. The Switch in 2030 might still be a competent experience.

-Also, Nintendo essentially has a monopoly on the dedicated portable console division now after killing off the PS Vita, if you want to play console like games on the go, Switch is pretty much the only option to go to.



Well happy my prediction aged pretty well

Remind us to bump this again in 2030.



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With a few exceptions, did anybody expect such a Switch success? I sure didn't. Frankly I thought it would be 30-40 million, back when it was announced. The Switch has been crazy.



Chrkeller said:

With a few exceptions, did anybody expect such a Switch success? I sure didn't. Frankly I thought it would be 30-40 million, back when it was announced. The Switch has been crazy.

i called the switch before it was even announced



 "I think people should define the word crap" - Kirby007

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Chrkeller said:

With a few exceptions, did anybody expect such a Switch success? I sure didn't. Frankly I thought it would be 30-40 million, back when it was announced. The Switch has been crazy.

I remember being completely wowed by the very first trailer and seeing that you could be playing a game like Breath of the Wild at home on your tv, and then pick it up and carry it out the door with you and continue the game with no break in the gameplay.  No need to have a device left powered on in your house all day.  No need to run the game through a secondary device that needs to be connected to the internet, etc.  My prediction from around that time, I think, was at least 80 million. 

Anyway, there's a huge difference between being skeptical of the Switch's success at first announcement, compared to a firm belief that Switch sales were going to drop off a cliff in late 2019.  The subject of the OP is a report released in September of 2019.



For a short second I thought this was a new thread lol.
This "analyst" thinks the DS and Gameboy are not only not consoles but also not even video game systems at all. Am I allowed to call them retard?

This "analyst" didn't understand what made the Switch appealing and popular and didn't understand why the 3DS sold less than the DS. They said the 3DS sold 75mil in the smartphone era which clearly shows they thought portable gaming was going to die because of smartphones. This shows me that layman armchair analysts on video game forums are in more cases than I thought as knowledgeable or more knowledgeable than professionals.

Last edited by Kakadu18 - on 15 December 2021

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Note to Self & Everyone: If there's an article that believes that Switch sales will be limited due to competition of smartphone games and irrelevant competitors like Google & Apple, that's when you know you should stop reading that article... I'm tired of media outlets who don't know anything about why the Switch is successful keep claiming that Nintendo will need to deal with competition from the mobile market. Literally no one goes "i dont need a switch cause mobile gaming is better"



Still not going to make it. That cliff is coming!



Chrkeller said:

With a few exceptions, did anybody expect such a Switch success? I sure didn't. Frankly I thought it would be 30-40 million, back when it was announced. The Switch has been crazy.

I have to go into my archives, but pretty sure I guessed around 40 million as well at first. Then I upped it to around 80 million. Now I dont make predictions anymore lol. 



Yikes, this was a very wrong take. Switch is currently tracking 140 million on the low end and 160 million on the high end.



Lifetime Sales Predictions 

Switch: 151 million (was 73, then 96, then 113 million, then 125 million, then 144 million)

PS5: 115 million (was 105 million) Xbox Series S/X: 57 million (was 60 million, then 67 million)

PS4: 120 mil (was 100 then 130 million, then 122 million) Xbox One: 51 mil (was 50 then 55 mil)

3DS: 75.5 mil (was 73, then 77 million)

"Let go your earthly tether, enter the void, empty and become wind." - Guru Laghima

kirby007 said:
Chrkeller said:

With a few exceptions, did anybody expect such a Switch success? I sure didn't. Frankly I thought it would be 30-40 million, back when it was announced. The Switch has been crazy.

i called the switch before it was even announced

But did it answer or were you already on it's blocked numbers.



Research shows Video games  help make you smarter, so why am I an idiot