Nintendo seems to have made the same mistake as 2020 this year in not having any big system sellers in the second two thirds of the year, only the first few months. (Animal Crossing/Monster Hunter Rise)

Not to say the rest of the year doesn't have plentiful software, just nothing that looks like it will bring in substantial amounts of new buyers.

meanwhile splatoon 2 is actually catching up to Sw/Sh so that is a thing

Pokemon, SMT V, Metroid Dread says you're wrong

I'm not saying those games won't sell well, I just can't see them significantly boosting hardware sales. SMT and Metroid are niche and Pokemon is a remake and from a series that already has two games on Switch.

Nintendo could fix this in just one strike: just announce Switch Sports finally!

But yeah, I am not sure myself about 2021 vs. 2020. The release schedule looks better than 2020, but nothing here screams system seller.

EDIT: Will be a great year for existing Switch owners like myself though. These games. *yummy*

I can agree with Metroid, but not with SMT, at least not in Japan. While it won't be as big as Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest or Momotaro Dentetsu, the fact is that very few games could get up to those sizes. SMT V should do a couple 100k at the very least in Japan ad push sales quite a bit.

You seem to not grasp the situation in japan at the moment, as well as not thinking some of those games you mention as big. You have 3 million sellers from what you listed, and possibly 2 of those games reaching 3mil and 4mil:”.

So let’s take a looksy here, going by japan sales since this is a Famitsu thread after all

May/Jun/July/Aug is the 2/3rd your talking about which imo is usually slow (at least july/aug) and I already disagree with you in terms of releases. You don’t look at system sellers and niche only. There is an in between here and that’s exactly what we have...

May is over but it had essentially Pokémon snap (releases last day of April) as well as some other small but meaningful games such as Miitopia (port), Detective games (this one is niche), Game builder Garage (might be as sleeper hit with 500k sales or more). June was slow but it had a few small releases and a new Mario golf game. In terms of July it has a lot of games actually. From Skyward Sword which is still a notable release as well as the new soccer game, Shin Chan game (potential sleeper), Monster Hunter Stories 2, NTWEWY, and more (you can add Pokémon Unite, a F2P but still a huge game). Aug is slow but sept will pick up but to name a few, the new Yugioh Game that has potential to be a million seller and a system seller as well as holiday Obon week. NMH3.

Regardless of the games you mentioned, Pokémon BDSP is a Pokémon game which is a huge game that sold nearly 6mil in japan. Metroid can surprise even it’s niche but it can still change so it’s a wait and see. I totally disagree with SMT as it’s a system seller, nothing like a new Zelda/Pokémon but a system seller regardless. And you underestimate a new WarioWare and Mario party superstars, a franchise in which was loved back on n64, now having the best of the best from the franchise. I haven’t bought a Mario party since the GameCube days and I’m very interested in this one for many reasons.

Lastly, not sure why not many people realize the OG model is still sold out. The rumor of the pro and manufacturing might actually be hindering the OG model, if demand was really going down numbers would be hitting 30k-40k weekly with no sellouts.

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SMT seems pretty niche, it's never sold more than 590k globally or 380k in Japan (and that was in the 1990s) according to VGChartz, doesn't exactly scream system seller. It may give a small bump, like Metroid, by bringing in a few core fans who haven't jumped on the Switch train yet but I can't imagine that will be many people.

The Pokemon and Mario Party remakes seem like stuff that will sell to the already converted, same for Skyward Sword, Warioware, etc.

Hardware supply may not be as plentiful as it could be but it feels like their lineup is very conservative for the second year running.

A game can still push hardware even if it’s not the best selling software. SMT has a hardcore fan base as well as Metroid so I disagree, both those games can move hardware. Not as much as a new smash or Pokémon game but still can move the needle. If what your saying is true for Pokémon/MP/Skyward Sword and ironically WarioWare then system might as well not sell as high as it is now. Those games can still pull in many consumers, especially when 3 out of the 4 you mentioned can be multi million sellers in japan. It’ll push hardware.

lastly hardware supply is still not plentiful so regardless the system is still selling crazy high while selling out. It’s early to even consider what NSW can sell (as a baseline or as low) since demand hasn’t been met yet. I don’t think it’s as dire as you make it out to be. you see notable jumps when those releases, more so MPS/WarioWare. He’ll even SMTV

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