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Forums - Sales Discussion - China is officially Switch's 4th biggest market

I'm confused by the title.  Is it implying the 3 main markets are NA, Europe, Japan, and then China is 4th?  If so that is not much of any accomplishment.  Or is it saying that China's sales are below UK but above France and Germany?  That would be a bigger deal if it were true, but I don't have Switch numbers on UK, France and Germany for this year.



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RolStoppable said:

Don't use the word 'official' when nothing is official about it.

You're officially nitpicking



KLAMarine said:

Why just China? Isn't India also a big market?

For consoles? Not yet at the very least.



Dulfite said:

Who would have thought Tencent and a fitness game would help Nintendo finally do what no one has done before in China (I'm mostly talking about the future and making a prediction). Now if only they could find out how to make Brazil work they could have true global domination. Sony can have Europe. Brazil and China are the future.

It is very difficult to Nintendo achieve any success in Brazil.
The Nintendo Switch price here is 3 months of the minimum wage, and 90% of the population dont earn that money in a month, 2/3 of ppl dont earn even half of it.
Here the games are rarely bought at full price, and while same year xbox and ps games can be found at the equivalent to 10$ to 20$ frequently, a physical Nintendo game release cost frequently 80$, and stay 60$ years after the release (40$+ used).

Also, the history of Nintendo is not good. Not Nintendo, Sega had the most selling systems in gen 3 and 4 here. Then ps1, ps2 and the transition was for x360, wii didnt get close. Most played games here on consoles are GTA and FIFA, but mobiles are also growing fast, specially know that everyone has a mobile phone that runs free fire, and the console prices are getting higher due to the devalorization of our currency.

I cant see any realistic plan to make Brazil work.



jonathanalis said:
Dulfite said:

Who would have thought Tencent and a fitness game would help Nintendo finally do what no one has done before in China (I'm mostly talking about the future and making a prediction). Now if only they could find out how to make Brazil work they could have true global domination. Sony can have Europe. Brazil and China are the future.

It is very difficult to Nintendo achieve any success in Brazil.
The Nintendo Switch price here is 3 months of the minimum wage, and 90% of the population dont earn that money in a month, 2/3 of ppl dont earn even half of it.
Here the games are rarely bought at full price, and while same year xbox and ps games can be found at the equivalent to 10$ to 20$ frequently, a physical Nintendo game release cost frequently 80$, and stay 60$ years after the release (40$+ used).

Also, the history of Nintendo is not good. Not Nintendo, Sega had the most selling systems in gen 3 and 4 here. Then ps1, ps2 and the transition was for x360, wii didnt get close. Most played games here on consoles are GTA and FIFA, but mobiles are also growing fast, specially know that everyone has a mobile phone that runs free fire, and the console prices are getting higher due to the devalorization of our currency.

I cant see any realistic plan to make Brazil work.

What if they had some model where hardware was really cheap (like $60) and games were like $10 each, but every 15 minutes of play makes a commercial pop up? Basically the hulu of the gaming industry. Obviously this model wouldn't generate as much money for them as selling $300 hardware and $60 games, but that's not the point. If they can make some profit in Brazil, even if this model existed just in Brazil, then that's more money than they would have otherwise and it will grow the gaming industry for the future. Basically if the market in place isn't designed for your business model, then adapt your business model to fit that market.



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pikashoe said:

I think Nintendo's family friendly approach gives them an advantage in China when it comes to them being able to release games.

Games that are less text/story heavy and aren't very plot driven will have an inherent advantage as well, because they won't have to dodge as many censhorship hurdles and are less likely to offend the regime. See what happened with the recent Monster Hunter movie over there.



Dulfite said:
jonathanalis said:

It is very difficult to Nintendo achieve any success in Brazil.
The Nintendo Switch price here is 3 months of the minimum wage, and 90% of the population dont earn that money in a month, 2/3 of ppl dont earn even half of it.
Here the games are rarely bought at full price, and while same year xbox and ps games can be found at the equivalent to 10$ to 20$ frequently, a physical Nintendo game release cost frequently 80$, and stay 60$ years after the release (40$+ used).

Also, the history of Nintendo is not good. Not Nintendo, Sega had the most selling systems in gen 3 and 4 here. Then ps1, ps2 and the transition was for x360, wii didnt get close. Most played games here on consoles are GTA and FIFA, but mobiles are also growing fast, specially know that everyone has a mobile phone that runs free fire, and the console prices are getting higher due to the devalorization of our currency.

I cant see any realistic plan to make Brazil work.

What if they had some model where hardware was really cheap (like $60) and games were like $10 each, but every 15 minutes of play makes a commercial pop up? Basically the hulu of the gaming industry. Obviously this model wouldn't generate as much money for them as selling $300 hardware and $60 games, but that's not the point. If they can make some profit in Brazil, even if this model existed just in Brazil, then that's more money than they would have otherwise and it will grow the gaming industry for the future. Basically if the market in place isn't designed for your business model, then adapt your business model to fit that market.

No need of all this workaround

They just need to sell their games for half of the current price (like Sony does) and stop charging more for a Switch than what Microsoft is charging for Series S

And of course have a subscription program that is actually worth it cause Nintedo online isn't 

They won't do this because Nintendo only likes big profit margins. They still haven't step a foot in many eastern european markets that are basically Sonylands

I think Sony strategy is to accept tiny profits (or even accept small losses) and expect their presence in the market be absolute, when the market start to develop and spending more in games their brand will lead there by far. 



Nice China has been good to Nintendo too. Thought it was just beneficial to Xbox up until now.



Xbox: Best hardware, Game Pass best value, best BC, more 1st party genres and multiplayer titles. 

 

China is such a massive market that even a tiny share is still of a meaningful size.
Every little bit counts in the global sales race, a lot of Sony's huge numbers for their consoles came from selling even in secondary markets.



Especially with Lite officially launching next year, and the huge library of evergreens that haven't launched - Nintendo might see strong YoY growth in China in the next few years. I'm really interested in the quarterly results and how much growth Other regions sees this quarter after a full Quarter of Ring Fit Sales in China. 

Upcoming Nintendo games in China: Super Mario Party, Yoshi’s Crafted World, Kirby Star Allies, and Mario Tennis Aces
Upcoming non-Chinese 3rd Party games in China: Just Dance, Rabbids Party Game, Rayman Legends

Mario Tennis Aces, Yoshi's Crafter World, Just Dance are already approved, and should launch in the coming weeks/months https://nikopartners.com/china-approves-roblox-plus-41-other-games-for-distribution/