Nintendo Switch Outsells Wii U In 10 Months (variety.com)

In less than a year, the Nintendo Switch has earned the designation of the fastest-selling U.S. console of all time. It has outsold the company's previous flagship Wii U just 10 months after its introduction. "Altogether, Nintendo has sold more than 14.86 million Switch units since its debut in March of 2017," reports Variety. "The company sold around 12.5 million Wii U's between 2012 and 2017." From the report: For Nintendo, this is a remarkable turn-around reminiscent of the introduction of the original Wii back in 2006. In fact, earlier this month, news broke that the Switch had become the fastest-selling game console in the U.S. to date, handily outselling original Wii with 4.8 million vs. 4 million units moved over a ten-month span after each device's introduction to U.S. consumers. Nintendo sold 7.23 million Switch units during the holiday quarter alone. The company adjusted its financial guidance for Q1 in light of continued demand for the device upwards by 33%, and now expects to bring in an operating profit of 160 billion yen ($1.47 billion), as well as revenue of around 1 trillion yen ($9.38 billion).

Comments

Switch succeeded where the Wii U failed

[vix86]

This comes as no surprise to me really. The Switch bridges the gap that has been hurting consoles in more mobile markets, by giving people a system that can be played on the go and put into a console mode when at home. I suspect they wanted to try this with the Wii U but the tech wasn't quite there yet and instead they ended up with a gimmicky screen controller.

Re:Switch succeeded where the Wii U failed

[pots]

The Wii U is the best console I've ever owned. That controller was indeed gimmicky, and that gimmick turned out to be a really good one.

I had opposite experiences with the Wii and Wii U:

Wii: "Man, those controllers look like such a good idea. Every other time I've used motion controls like that they've been annoyingly laggy, but I'm sure that Nintendo wouldn't be doing this if they hadn't solved that problem. I'm so excited for the Wii, this is going to be great."

Wii U: "Oh my god... Come on Nintendo, can't you just do something normal? Why are you fartin' around with another stupid gimmick when the last one turned out so awful?"

It seems that I don't have a good track record here. I've been rooting for the Switch in large part because I see it as a second chance for the Wii U format which turned out to be so great. It's not quite as nice as the Wii U gamepad, it's smaller and less ergonomic, but it gets points for being commercially viable.

What does censorship mean?

[OrangeTide]

Yes, when I see garbage I mod it down. Posts about Trump, jokes about luddite appers, and inflammatory flames are going to get negative mods. You can expect down mods for this like you can expect that rain is wet.

Feel free to post off topic about fake censorship. Also expect down modding of such off topic posts. Have a nice day.

Re:Backwards compatibility

[Lunix Nutcase]

I would have bought one myself, if it could play my Wii games.

How would that all be practical in a handheld console that wasn't massively large?

Re:Censorship

[PoopJuggler]

Moderation is not censorship. You and everyone else are free to browse at -1 if you want.

The Answer is Unique Titles

[skam240]

The only conclusion I can come to is Nintendo's unique titles are driving this. The console as a mobile gaming option is cumbersome and battery inefficient, meanwhile Nintendo continues to release amazing content that stands out far more than other consoles content, most of which is available on every other platform.

I've wanted Nintendo consoles to fail for over a decade now because I want them to become strictly a game developer. Sadly, I don't see that happening any time soon so I'll probably buy a switch in the near future.

Re:The Answer is Unique Titles

[DontBeAMoran]

I'm also planning to buy a switch in the future, however I'm not sure if I should get a SPDT or DPDT.

Re:The Answer is Unique Titles

[vix86]

The Switch was a brilliant decision as a mobile system. Will you get 8 hours out of it? No, but I think Nintendo went into this with a few assumptions and target markets. First, I think they assumed that most people wouldn't play the Switch in portable mode for more than 2-3 hours and that if most people were going to do that then they would probably have access to a power source while doing so. In the car? Use a power converter. On an airplane? A lot of [long-haul] planes have plugs now and airports have charging locations now. Their target market for the portability mode was clearly with people that commute via mass transit, particularly countries like Japan, South Korea, and maybe some European countries.

One of the biggest cruxes they've had in Japan in the gaming market has been the low installment base for home consoles. The market with the most disposable income (working adults) don't buy those systems that much because [at least in Japan] they aren't at home a lot. Handhelds are a different matter though, the installment rate on the DS and PSP (and Vita to a lesser extent) has traditionally been really good. This wouldn't seem like a problem on the surface but it hurts developers quite often because they have to make a decision between making games for the handheld or making games for the consoles. I'm convinced that the Switch will be heralded in the future as impactful as the Gameboy or the NES.

Re: The Answer is Unique Titles

[dj245]

I think you underestimate the power of Mario as a brand. It is one of the few longstanding brands that is well-received by people from 4 years old to adulthood.

Plus, there is an awful lot of content in Mario Odyssey. We average an hour a day since release and are not even close to collecting all the moons. Nintendo seems to be releasing more content for the game as time goes on as well. We are already well below the $/hr cost of pretty much any other non-free entertainment, even considering the cost of the console.

Re:The Answer is Unique Titles

[mrun4982]

Nintendo has tons of cash in the bank. They're not getting out of the hardware business for a long time. There are plenty of people willing to buy Nintendo hardware just to play their 1st party games. The Switch's mobility is not just about playing games when you're out of the house. It fixes one of the biggest flaws with the Wii U... you can use it anywhere in the house. With the Wii U, you could only play games in tablet mode when within about 30 feat of the console. This is a big deal for gamers that have a family, when you want to play while laying in bed or on the couch in a different room, etc. I love the mobility of the Switch and it's never left my house.

I have a feeling the big sales for the switch

[rsilvergun]

are due to Nintendo fans who sat the Wii U Gen out. It's good for Nintendo that their core customers are back, but I suspect the sales will slow once they've saturated their existing market. e.g. this won't be a repeat of the Wii.

Re:I have a feeling the big sales for the switch

[93 Escort Wagon]

Our daughter begged us to buy a Wii U... so we did. A year before they basically abandoned it... She actually still plays a few games on it, although I think it's used more for Wii games than anything U-specific. But it's never seen anything like the use the old Wii did.

We are not buying the Switch, in any case. I think we've somewhat shifted out of that demographic - plus the Wii U abandonment left a bad taste in my mouth. I feel like Nintendo should have done something for the Wii U purchasers other than basically say "yup, you shouldn't have bought that".

Re:ridiculousness of gamer culture

[Z80a]

Every console have a game library that is a fraction of the previous console library at it's first year for very obvious reasons.