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Forums - Sales Discussion - Switch now at half of PS4 lifetime sales

Bofferbrauer2 said:
Drakrami said:
Nintendo used to sell Handheld Device + Console
Now they only sell Switch
They are selling millions less units and has lost market share because of this.

Switch is outselling Wii U plus 3DS combined launch-aligned, so...

Lol this is funny. People like Drakrami still doesnt realise how well the Switch is really doing. 



Pocky Lover Boy! 

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kirby007 said:
the switch is a fad otherwise my name is johnlucas

It's not a fad, it's a new norm that is here to stay because it's genius and convenient



Just a guy who doesn't want to be bored. Also

Halfway there!



vonny said:
People keep underestimating just how hard 100 million sales are, Switch will decline after this year and might just pass 100 million.

Your quote might be premature, the Switch just sold more this past march than it did even in its launch year according to NPD... This was all behind Animal Crossing and the quarantine of course but pretty impressive in its 3rd year.



The_Yoda said:
kirby007 said:

agreed the cliff is coming sooner then later

Slick Rick just rolled over in his virtual grave....

Well I hope he doesn't have any type of grave working, since he's still alive...



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Ck1x said:
The_Yoda said:

Slick Rick just rolled over in his virtual grave....

Well I hope he doesn't have any type of grave working, since he's still alive...

And frequently active on VGChartz still.



I'm not sure if Nintendo will make the right choices in the future but I think some people are underestimating the sales potential of the Switch. At the time of the Switches launch I wrote that Nintendo can't be happy with just equaling sales of 3DS + Wii U combined as this was by far their worst generation. Nintendo's aim with the Switch has to be making it as successful as the DS. And this is possible.

Over the past years Nintendo has gradually shifted the Switch from being a console primarily aimed at male core gamers in their 20s and 30s to a mass market console, just like the DS and Wii were. 

This is certainly in part due to Furukawa being the new CEO of the company. Nintendo abandoning the mass market was never caused by smartphones or "the casualz not buying a new console". Nintendo was simply not interested in serving the mass market because they rather wanted to make games for the hardcore gamers. Just look at the Wii U. Do you think the gamepad was implemented because of market research? Hell, no. It was added because some people in the company (Miyamoto being the most prominent of them) wanted the gamepad, consumer feedback be damned. People blamed "the casuals" and said the casual gamers had "moved on" but they had only moved on because Nintendo had abandoned them.

The Wii U gamepad was the opposite of the Wiimote: The Wiimote was simple, easy to understand, fun and focused on motion controls. The Wii U gamepad is the most monstrous and needlessly complicated controller the gaming world has ever seen. But of course, on gaming message boards some people blamed mass market customers for not buying the console.

Same goes for 3D in the 3DS: Nintendo has been trying to push 3D since the Virtual Boy, but the technology was never ready. Luigi's Mansion was originally planned to run in stereoscopic 3D. They abandoned 2D Mario for literal decades so they could make people like the 3D Mario titles; Mario Galaxy 2 even had a tutorial DVD bundled with it. With the 3DS, they tried to push 3D into the mass market, but the market wasn't interested.

During the Wii generation Nintendo tried to get mass market customers interested in its "hardcore" gaming series - and when the mass market sill wanted to play 2D Mario instead of 3D they started pouting, said "screw you!", started remaking N64 games for the 3DS and mainly made games for hardcore Nintendo fans on the Wii U (even Nintendoland was a game for the enthusiasts: It is focused on Nintendo IPs! The mass market is not interested in this) 

TLDR: You can't give your 250 million Wii and DS customers the antithesis of a Wiimote and make them pay for a 3D feature they don't want and then expect them to show up to buy your product. I think Furukawa understands this and is making Nintendos developers develop games that are mass market compatible. Ring Fit Adventure, Brain Training, Fitness Boxing, Animal Crossing, Clubhouse games... these are perfect examples of games that appeal to the expanded market.

If Nintendo plays their cards right and gives us games like Switch Sports, 2D Mario, etc. then the Switch has the potential to sell as well as the DS did. But  only if they play their cards right.



shikamaru317 said:
Bofferbrauer2 said:

Switch is outselling Wii U plus 3DS combined launch-aligned, so...

That is true, but it is worth noting that Wii U is Nintendo's lowest selling console of all-time and 3DS is their lowest selling handheld of all-time. As far as I know, Switch isn't tracking ahead of any other Nintendo console+handheld combinations that don't involve Wii U or 3DS. SNES + Gameboy, N64 + Gameboy, Wii + DS, N64 + Gameboy Advance, etc. Maybe Switch is tracking ahead of Gamecube + Gameboy Advance launch aligned, I'm not 100% sure on that one. 

SNES+GB(C) would be interesting to compare, but we only have trimesters here to do so. And due to the staggered launch dates, it would be a pretty distorted result anyway. If we don't align all regions, then Switch would be beating SNES+GB easily, as the Gameboy only really started selling around 2000 (except in Europe, where it was a huge hit during it's first full year), shortly before the release of the GBA.

GBA sold like hotcakes at the time, and really just got his legs cut off by the DS very early on, otherwise it would have sold much more than it did. GBA+GC is out of reach - yet. The DS will soon cut off the GBA's legs, and then Switch will overtake that duo, too.

here you can see the yearly sales of the older consoles if you like to doublecheck:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/nintendo-historical-shipment-data-1983-present.701305/



trunkswd said:
Nintendo has made core gamers happy with all their major franchises getting a release on the Switch. Well except Metroid Prime, but we know MP4 is on the way. They have also made casual gamers happy with games like Animal Crossing and Ring Fit Adventure. Plus many of their games are enjoyed by core and casual gamers alike.

I'm happy they have the Pro controller, Mario Oddysey, BotW and Pokemon.

Also big 3rd party titles like the Witcher 3 and the outer worlds also bring in high appeal for sales



Ck1x said:
vonny said:
People keep underestimating just how hard 100 million sales are, Switch will decline after this year and might just pass 100 million.

Your quote might be premature, the Switch just sold more this past march than it did even in its launch year according to NPD... This was all behind Animal Crossing and the quarantine of course but pretty impressive in its 3rd year.

3rd years or 4th are usually the peak years of a system. The reason PS2/4 sold so well is not only due to their peaks but due to their long tails.