In a recent Q&A on Nintendo’s Japanese website, President Tatsumi Kimishima revealed sales figures for the Nintendo Switch, as well as other interesting information.
Kimishima announced that the Nintendo Switch has sold 2.7 million units, thus exceeding the launch sales of the Wii U in the same time frame. Kimishima went on to say that they (Nintendo) aim for the Switch to sell as much as the Wii – over 100 million – and the company is encouraged by the strong sales thus far considering the system launched in March.
Continuing to discuss the potential sales of the Switch, Kimishima stated:
If our sales go according to our plan this fiscal year, we will be able to see Nintendo Switch gaining the momentum in which it can approach relative parity with Wii afterwards. Plus, considering that Nintendo Switch is a home console video game system that you can take with you on the go so you can play anytime, anywhere, with anyone, we think there will be households that feel as though one is not really enough. This is another point that drives us to match the scale of Wii’s popularity with Nintendo Switch.
The company’s projection for 2017 is for the Switch to sell 10 million units, which is a lofty goal for a 9-month period. It’s worth noting that the PS4 managed to sell 10 million in its first 9 months on the market, and it is a record-shattering console.
One of the other questions brought up, mentioning that the Nintendo Switch has a lower attach rate than the Wii U had, to which Kimishima stated his belief that the reason for the disparity is because the Wii U launched during the holiday season, while the Switch launched in March.
Kimishima went on to discuss the recent announcement of the New Nintendo 2DS XL. He noted that the redesign is a reiteration of Nintendo’s dedication to the handheld market, as well as the company’s thinking in regards to product cycles:
To that end, we are always thinking about what kinds of software consumers are going to want, and evaluating our hardware cycles to make sure that we are meeting that need. This means that our product lifecycles are not going to last for a set number of years but will be flexible enough to change when required by changing consumer needs.
This comment is rather ironic considering the company recently discontinued the NES Mini console which sold 2.3 million units and suffered greatly due to Nintendo’s failure to meet supply-and-demand. It is worth noting that Nintendo has a storied history with creating fake supply shortages to ramp-up excitement for a product.
The Nintendo Switch has been a huge rebound for Nintendo, following the huge failure of the Wii U. A major driving force behind the success of the Switch was undoubtedly the masterful Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, and the system is currently enjoying the success of the Super Mario Kart 8 re-release. So long as the company continues to release major first-party akin to these, particularly with Super Mario Odyssey in the holiday season, the Switch should have a very successful first year on the market.
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