Nintendo Switch

[rgraves]

Stolen from ERA

 

Quote

It had sold through 10M worldwide by December 10th, which is well before the peak of the December shopping season. I'm estimating that it sold an additional ~3M by the end of December, so 13M total. 

Nintendo's forecast for the FY is 14M shipped between April 2017 and through the end of March 2018. That would mean 16.7M shipped lifetime. The 13M total I'm estimating includes the 2.7M from the previous FY, so that would suggest they've sold 10.3M this FY.

However, sell through numbers lag behind shipments, even if they sell out everything they ship, since transit/shipping time needs to be take into account. So if they'd sold 13M by January then you could probably estimate shipments at that time to be 1-2M more than that.

So I'd say they need to ship 2-3M through January-March to reach their goal, which seems extremely doable

 

[MidWalian]

In December 1.5m switches were sold in the US alone, not sure if many were included in the 10m figure published earlier that month.

 

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180118005439/en/Nintendo-News-Nintendo-Switch-Tops-December-U.S

 

It's selling really well at the moment. In Japan they are also having stock problems.

 

Looking forward to the first year figures...I think Switch was released sometime last March?

[deKay]

This is a bit old now, but they've passed 12 million:

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

[scottcr]

1 hour ago, mushashi said:

Are you from the future? Pretty certain the Switch hasn't moved that many just yet.

 

PUBG is an interesting one, it's getting a port to mobile because an awful lot of Chinese people don't game on PC/consoles but do own a mobile phone, which explains why Tencent can find massive success with mobile ports of hardcore games like MOBAs on mobile and why they've already cloned PUBG to mobile, before they did the deal to distribute it officially.

 

 

 

Sauce? Quick Google didn't bring anything but fan wishes on the matter, and this is the first I've read on a forum mentioning Epic have stated such wishes.

 

 

 

 

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2017/08/09/fortnite-creative-director-talks-five-year-plan-possibility-of-switch-version.aspx

[Stanley]

Is Oxenfree worth a punt? Currently £3.99.

[Shimmyhill]

6 hours ago, VN1X said:

Switch sells 600k units in Germany, selling faster than Wii

The amount of succes the Switch has seen still baffles me. Is it merely down to the fact that you can play it on the go which appeals to people? 

 

I think basically it’s because graphics do not a game make, for many the Switch is the best platform to play games on because it is on the telly and portable - ‘gamers’ are a niche market and the Switch appeals to them and a much wider demographic. 

 

You seem to have an odd elitist view of gaming that these days is out of touch with the rest of the world who have families and busy lives and not a PC den to camp out in - don’t take offence as if I were a single man with disposable income I’d be sat in my pc den smoking fools in counter strike but with a family your priorities change and gaming becomes a family activity (lol I still spend days playing online shooters just on PS4) and naturally Nintendo games appeal to kids and adults.

 

Maybe the people who decided mobile gaming was going to kill consoles got it wrong and mobile was a pointer to how people want to play games to fit around their life not dedicate a telly to etc - Switch seems to have been pitched perfectly to the mass market like the Wii before it but the Wii U was probably just too early but a definite pointer to a system that fits in with family life!

[Nathan Wind]

Nah, it's just versatile innit.  I think it's a simple as that.  Some dude nailed it up there when they said it has something for everyone to like. 

 

Yer man was saying it's the perfect multiplayer console for him and his mates.  For me it's the perfect single player console for when I don't want to be bothered by constant pop-ups telling me who's online or from people daring to attempt to chat at me while I'm trying to play.  For someone else it'll be the perfect handheld, and so on.

[Shimmyhill]

1 minute ago, Nathan Wind said:

Nah, it's just versatile innit.  I think it's a simple as that.  Some dude nailed it up there when they said it has something for everyone to like. 

 

Yer man was saying it's the perfect multiplayer console for him and his mates.  For me it's the perfect single player console for when I don't want to be bothered by constant pop-ups telling me who's online or from people daring to attempt to chat at me while I'm trying to play.  For someone else it'll be the perfect handheld and so on.

 

I think that’s what I’m saying but badly!

 

@VN1X I just read my post and it sounded harsh on you, I love you man but I have been having a similar discussion about the Switch with a mate who can not see past graphics so thinks the Switch is a joke - unfortunately when you post now I just think of you in your Razer gear (I know)  

 

[SnoopZakaDaVe]

Loving the pro controller and the battery life is insane 

[Super Craig]

2 hours ago, deKay said:

This is a bit old now, but they've passed 12 million:

 

http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/

 

They're not reliable.

[deKay]

6 minutes ago, Super Craig said:

 

They're not reliable.

 

No? Who is then?

[Sarlaccfood]

49 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

I think that’s what I’m saying but badly!

 

@VN1X I just read my post and it sounded harsh on you, I love you man but I have been having a similar discussion about the Switch with a mate who can not see past graphics so thinks the Switch is a joke - unfortunately when you post now I just think of you in your Razer gear (I know)  

 

 

Switch dus graphix too tho

[Stanley]

Yeah the graphics are fantastic, we're all spoilt.

[Captain Kelsten]

As of last week or the week before, I posted that the switch had outsold the lifetime sales of the Wii u in Japan, and that it was on track to outsell the lifetime global Wii u sales in the first quarter of 2018. Think people are conflating the two. 

[Stanley]

5 minutes ago, Orko said:

As of last week or the week before, I posted that the switch had outsold the lifetime sales of the Wii u in Japan, and that it was on track to outsell the lifetime global Wii u sales in the first quarter of 2018. Think people are conflating the two. 

 

3 hours ago, Stanley said:

That 10 million figure was taken mid December (12th I think it was reported). Perhaps it's not 14m yet but their projection is something nearer 17m shipped (not sold) by end of this financial year, March in other words. 

 

It has overtaken Wii U sales in Japan, that's where the confusion is.

 

[Azrael]

Nintendo will release a PUBG mode for Splatoon 2; Splattle Royale. 

[Nespresso]

LOL, I think some of you took my post the wrong way (especially @Shimmyhill, who also seems to have conjured up an image of me being some sort of a graphics obsessed first-person-shooter fanboy?). I'm not questioning the Switch's succes in the sense that I don't think it deserves it or whatever. I'm genuinely curious as it's currently outselling the fuckin' Wii! You know... that thing which was on the news for months, the thing your mum brought up in conversation on birthdays, the thing your granny schooled you on with Wii Sports, etc. From my perspective it's not been part of the 'zeitgeist' in the same way the Wii was, yet it seems to be reaching an even bigger audience. Maybe it is truly down to the fact that you can play a full fat Zelda on the toiler that has made it such a succes? Either way, it's crazy how well it's done so far.

 

Now it remains to be seen if the Switch ever reaches those lifetime sales of the Wii but that it's currently doing better than the Wii probably even far exceeded Nintendo's wildest dreams as well. 

[RubberJohnny]

Yeah, I asked the same, the answers I got were pretty unconvincing and wouldn't explain the magnitude of the shift and why the Vita and Wii U were so unsuccessful despite being a similarly powered and priced.

 

I think there's a demographic shift going on somewhere, like people who grew up with the Wii who are now in the 20-something disposable income bracket and are nostalgic? And given our demographics, we're just sort of unaware of it so are coming up with these explanations of what appeals to us.

[R0b]

19 hours ago, Fallows said:

 

You get the games as well. The robot game is the Giant Robo project by Miyamoto. As someone said earlier it's been in development for several years now, so is likely to be fully fleshed out.

 

We don't really know. Giant Robot's tech-demo bedfellow, Starfox Zero's control and movement engine, was the most controversial/most inconsistently seductive part of Platinum's game. It had plenty of lovers but didn't speak to the majority. Same with Starfox Guard. It could be something slim that is legitimised by the novelty, or sheer fun, of the Labo side of things. 

[Don Wiskerando]

Who here has experience of ordering a repair from nintendo?

 

The right thumbstick housing has disintegrated.  Rotating it feels sticky and it can no longer be clicked in like a button.  

I've ordered a repair via the website but that was this morning and so far I haven't had an email or any other kind of acknowledgement.  The webpage that popped up at the end of the process said I would receive an email shortly.

[SMD]

51 minutes ago, RubberJohnny said:

Yeah, I asked the same, the answers I got were pretty unconvincing and wouldn't explain the magnitude of the shift and why the Vita and Wii U were so unsuccessful despite being a similarly powered and priced.

 

I think there's a demographic shift going on somewhere, like people who grew up with the Wii who are now in the 20-something disposable income bracket and are nostalgic? And given our demographics, we're just sort of unaware of it so are coming up with these explanations of what appeals to us.

 

I don't get why it's still confusing. Sure, no one expected the magnitude (and if they did, they were lying) but plenty of people could see that it had the potential to be a success.

 

To a lot of people, the Wii U never existed. Anecdotally I knew loads of people who had Wiis and assumed the Wii U was just another Wii. They didn't know it was a separate machine or what the tablet controller did and that spoke to the major problem Nintendo had with the platform.

But the flip side is that for many, the Switch is the next Nintendo console. Like they went away and did something else or got a PS4/Xbox One and now this is the new thing. If you ask people what they think Nintendo did in the meantime, they probably couldn't tell you.

 

Loads of these people see Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart and Mario + Rabbids and think 'yeah, these look great, it's been too long'. There's something for everyone in the family. If you're not playing, it's still appealing to watch. To us, we know that Mario + Rabbids is a team based tactical RPG in the same vein as X-Com, Ghost Recon Shadow Wars, etc but the majority of people don't give a fuck. They see the Rabbids game, think it looks like an appealing puzzle shooter and go for it.

 

It's multiplayer out the box, it can go anywhere and it looks good.

 

What more do you want in a package?

[Nathan Wind]

7 minutes ago, SMD said:

What more do you want in a package?

Cardboard model kits.

[SMD]

1 minute ago, Nathan Wind said:

Cardboard model kits.

 

[Stanley]

I just think it's a perfect marriage of hardware and software, I wouldn't even spend too much time thinking about it.

 

Their strategy of releasing strong first party titles at regular intervals means there's always some excitement about the console, and its hybrid nature means it appeals to pretty much anyone interested in games in any way. It's fun, innovative and plays to all Nintendo's strengths. It's hoovering up sales from both the handheld and home console market.

 

Vita didn't sell well because it didn't do anything new and Sony didn't support it. Wii U because the release schedule was patchy, the design and the marketing confusing. 

[freezycold]

1 hour ago, VN1X said:

From my perspective it's not been part of the 'zeitgeist' in the same way the Wii was, yet it seems to be reaching an even bigger audience.

 

The Wii happened in a very different time, three differences that immediately spring to mind are:

 

-Things were much more mass media focussed in 2006. The Wii seemed like it was everywhere because it featured on the relatively limited media outlets that everyone consumed. Back then Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc weren't the massively influencial behemoths they are today. We didn't have vloggers and YouTube channels where we could go find this stuff out. Now there are vastly more channels where information can get to customers that you may not necessarily be seeing.

 

- Many people, particularly the younger lot that Nintendo are likely targeting, communicate much more freely and privately now. It's like it happens behind the scenes. Group chats and the various communication apps weren't a big thing in 2006. Again, you won't see these conversations and interactions. Similarly, people tend to curate their social media posting now more than they did ten years ago. What was post worthy five/ten years ago probably won't be so much now.

 

 - Videogames were regarded differently back then. The Wii hit before smartphones. Smartphones and tablets normalised videogames a huge degree. Before then they were seen universally as being dorky or child like. Now everyone plays them, even my mum. They might not call it gaming, but they're doing it. The Switch slots right in to this new videogames everywhere era. They also normalised the price/outlay of buying a console. A switch seems cheap compared to many tablets and phones.

 

 

[StephenM]

23 hours ago, StephenM said:

I think it's perfect. My first reaction on the video was 'Showing this video to my 8yo is going to blow her mind' and I now can't wait for that.

 

And, predictably, it was great.

 

The opening of the video.

'This looks boring'.

'Why is there cardboard?'

'...'

'You have to get this for me daddy, when can we get it?'

 

Fortunately, I'd already been planning to pre-order the variety kit as soon as it went live.

 

'... we need the robot most of all!'

 

 

[Protocol Penguin]

 

55 minutes ago, SMD said:

To a lot of people, the Wii U never existed. Anecdotally I knew loads of people who had Wiis and assumed the Wii U was just another Wii. They didn't know it was a separate machine or what the tablet controller did and that spoke to the major problem Nintendo had with the platform.

But the flip side is that for many, the Switch is the next Nintendo console.

Wow, that’s very a good explanation. Makes a lot of sense to me. I too witnessed many people being unaware that the Wii U was even a new and different console to the Wii.

 

(Interestingly, basically every non-gamer I showed my Wii U to loved it, and to be honestly were more impressed the central gimmick than I ever was. Perhaps if Nintendo hadn’t massively messed up on the product name and image, maybe they could have had more much success with the Wii U?)

[ZOK]

29 minutes ago, freezycold said:

 

 - Videogames were regarded differently back then. The Wii hit before smartphones. Smartphones and tablets normalised videogames a huge degree. Before then they were seen universally as being dorky or child like. Now everyone plays them, even my mum. They might not call it gaming, but they're doing it. The Switch slots right in to this new videogames everywhere era. They also normalised the price/outlay of buying a console. A switch seems cheap compared to many tablets and phones.

 

 

 

Games were seen as universally dorky until the Wii came along?! 

 

Sorry, this is nonsense.

[Dimahoo]

I'm 44. Never bothered much with Nintendo other the SNES. Bought the Sony portables, which were fine but wanted something bigger and missed the boat on the shield (as i had a VITA and was getting into tablets and phones).

 

Now realised that phones and tablets are not that great without spending a fuckton of cash every year or two for an upgrade. So stuck with my note 3.

 

The Switch is perfect. It makes so much financial sense its stupid and it plays some amazing games - both those on STEAM (like the sheild) and those made by Nintendo.

[SMD]

15 minutes ago, Protocol Penguin said:

 

Wow, that’s very a good explanation. Makes a lot of sense to me. I too witnessed many people being unaware that the Wii U was even a new and different console to the Wii.

 

(Interestingly, basically every non-gamer I showed my Wii U to loved it, and to be honestly were more impressed the central gimmick than I ever was. Perhaps if Nintendo hadn’t massively messed up on the product name and image, maybe they could have had more much success with the Wii U?)

 

Conversely I think if they hadn't messed up, we wouldn't have the Switch. A successful Wii U might have lead Nintendo to double down on the asymmetric multiplayer rather than go for the hybrid form.