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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Switch Is Attracting A Large amount of Non-Console owners, Research Suggests: 25% of Owners Have No other console

Now will be a good time to release Wii Sport !! It's this year or never !



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RolStoppable said:

It doesn't surprise me at all, because this was visible since before launch. Here's an old thread of mine, from February 2017:

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=225876

As for the current research, people shouldn't mistake the term "non-console owners" as "first time console owners." It's not clear which console options were available in the survey (possibly only systems from the 8th and 9th gen) and the question itself only concerns consoles currently in households, so giveaways/selling off old consoles fall outside of what was asked for.

A good portion of these non-console owners that Switch has are people who had a DS and/or Wii, who themselves were already commonly people who had skipped one to three home console generations of Nintendo. That these same people skipped the 3DS and Wii U wasn't a surprise when you consider how different Nintendo's 8th gen was in comparison to Nintendo's 7th gen. Likewise, it's no surprise that they've returned for Switch.

Former gamers.

Former gamers are the people behind Wii and Ds sucess. 



RolStoppable said:

It doesn't surprise me at all, because this was visible since before launch. Here's an old thread of mine, from February 2017:

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=225876

As for the current research, people shouldn't mistake the term "non-console owners" as "first time console owners." It's not clear which console options were available in the survey (possibly only systems from the 8th and 9th gen) and the question itself only concerns consoles currently in households, so giveaways/selling off old consoles fall outside of what was asked for.

A good portion of these non-console owners that Switch has are people who had a DS and/or Wii, who themselves were already commonly people who had skipped one to three home console generations of Nintendo. That these same people skipped the 3DS and Wii U wasn't a surprise when you consider how different Nintendo's 8th gen was in comparison to Nintendo's 7th gen. Likewise, it's no surprise that they've returned for Switch.

There's no doubt that Nintendo wanted a blue ocean product, but thats been the case since the DS. Whether they actually achieve it is another thing. Unless I'm mistaken Switches launch year was heavily driven by their core fanbase and it also skewed more older than traditional userbases, so the degree of outreach beyon traditional demographics wasn't clear in 2017 like the way it was in 2008.



Otter said:
RolStoppable said:

It doesn't surprise me at all, because this was visible since before launch. Here's an old thread of mine, from February 2017:

https://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=225876

As for the current research, people shouldn't mistake the term "non-console owners" as "first time console owners." It's not clear which console options were available in the survey (possibly only systems from the 8th and 9th gen) and the question itself only concerns consoles currently in households, so giveaways/selling off old consoles fall outside of what was asked for.

A good portion of these non-console owners that Switch has are people who had a DS and/or Wii, who themselves were already commonly people who had skipped one to three home console generations of Nintendo. That these same people skipped the 3DS and Wii U wasn't a surprise when you consider how different Nintendo's 8th gen was in comparison to Nintendo's 7th gen. Likewise, it's no surprise that they've returned for Switch.

There's no doubt that Nintendo wanted a blue ocean product, but thats been the case since the DS. Whether they actually achieve it is another thing. Unless I'm mistaken Switches launch year was heavily driven by their core fanbase and it also skewed more older than traditional userbases, so the degree of outreach beyon traditional demographics wasn't clear in 2017 like the way it was in 2008.

It was more subtle but it was there.
Familiar hardware. TV remote (Wii) v Tablet (Switch)
The return of the wiimote/nunchuk.
Built-in local multiplayer
Return of wheel + casual friendly auto steer/accelerate options in MK8D.
Wii Boxing 2 (ARMS).
Controller demo, minigame compilation (12Switch).

Switch makes the Wii look like a prototype. The main difference is price. Switch isn't the bargain Wii was if you don't value portability.



Nov 2016 - NES outsells PS1 (JP)

Don't Play Stationary 4 ever. Switch!

IMHO there is a push for more simple games. Indie games, Pokémon s/s, animal crossing, etc. I know my kids aren't into huge open world complex games. I expect this trend to accelerate.



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But, how can that be true? EA specifically said they don't have to release games like Madden NFL on the Switch, because every Switch owner already has an XBox or PlayStation to buy it on.



RolStoppable said:
Otter said:

There's no doubt that Nintendo wanted a blue ocean product, but thats been the case since the DS. Whether they actually achieve it is another thing. Unless I'm mistaken Switches launch year was heavily driven by their core fanbase and it also skewed more older than traditional userbases, so the degree of outreach beyon traditional demographics wasn't clear in 2017 like the way it was in 2008.

The 3DS and Wii U weren't blue ocean products and they never could be, because Nintendo didn't care to continue their blue ocean strategy.

I am not sure what you mean with early adopters of Switch skewed older than traditional userbases. Is this some stealth-trolling along the lines of Nintendo is for kids? Or is it just the oversight that the average age of the userbase increases with each passing generation because millions stick with Nintendo? Either way, today the explanation for why Switch will sell more than 100m units is pretty much the same one as it was four years ago.

Wii Fit U
Wii Sports Online
NintendoLand
Launching with NSMBU 
Multiplayer Focused 3D Mario 

The early efforts for the Wii U seem more notable than Switch early in its lifetime

.... The latter section was just userbase data, I thought it gave the impression of Nintendo's Switch initial audience being unsually "hardcore". 


"Nearly two years from launch, the demographics of Nintendo Switch owners are beginning to fall more into line with the demographics of other Nintendo system owners, with marked differences from owners of other consoles."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-11-eedar-nintendo-switch-attracting-more-women-wider-age-ranges-over-time#:~:text=Early%20adopters%20of%20the%20system,male%2C%20and%2030%25%20female.&text=The%20PS4%20and%20Xbox%20One's,and%2053%25%20female%2C%20respectively.


But the point was to question whether it was actually clear that Nintendo was succeeding with its blue ocean strategy back in 2017 because the initial audience was distinctly male and mostly yuppies



Otter said:
RolStoppable said:

Wii Fit U
Wii Sports Online
NintendoLand
Launching with NSMBU 
Multiplayer Focused 3D Mario 

The early efforts for the Wii U seem more notable than Switch early in its lifetime

.... The latter section was just userbase data, I thought it gave the impression of Nintendo's Switch initial audience being unsually "hardcore". 


"Nearly two years from launch, the demographics of Nintendo Switch owners are beginning to fall more into line with the demographics of other Nintendo system owners, with marked differences from owners of other consoles."

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-11-eedar-nintendo-switch-attracting-more-women-wider-age-ranges-over-time#:~:text=Early%20adopters%20of%20the%20system,male%2C%20and%2030%25%20female.&text=The%20PS4%20and%20Xbox%20One's,and%2053%25%20female%2C%20respectively.


But the point was to question whether it was actually clear that Nintendo was succeeding with its blue ocean strategy back in 2017 because the initial audience was distinctly male and mostly yuppies

The problem with the games you listed is that Nintendo's focus with the Wii U (and 3DS) clearly wasn't a blue ocean strategy, despite these titles being on the system. Games like Wii Fit U, Mario Bros. U and Nintendoland were by the numbers, soul-less titles, unlike the games on Wii and DS. Also, the hardware of the Wii U and 3DS clearly didn't attract mass market customers. So even if Nintendo wanted to attract a blue ocean audience, it failed to do so with Wii U and 3DS. The Wii U was the polar opposite of the Wii.

As for your second post: I think the point here is that it was always obvious that Nintendo needed a blue ocean strategy to make the Switch a big success. I remember having these discussions years ago with certain users who always claimed Nintendo would only need to attract male gamers aged 20-40 to make the Switch wildly successful - which was obviously wrong and Nintendo always knew they wouldn't have massive success without attracting a wide audience. After all, that's what they've been doing in the handheld sector since the 1980s and the only time their handheld failed to perform to expectations (3DS) was when they didn't attract that audience in large enough numbers. So yes, it was always clear (to Nintendo and observers like Rol) that the Switch would be a blue ocean product, even if the audience consisted mostly of hardcore Nintendo fans right after launch (after all, that's going to be the case for any established console or consumer product: The most enthusiastic "core" fans of your product will buy it first).



Technically true for me, although I mainly play on PC lol that's how it's always been for me. My PC and whatever is the latest Nintendo console



So it's similar in that way to the Wii and DS right? The Wii and DS combined sold about 255 million, and a large percentage of owners of those devices had no other home or handheld consoles in their possession.



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)

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