Zelda leads the charge

The Nintendo Switch is flying off store shelves all over the world, which would suggest that the concept of a home console you can take with you anywhere has found favour with the games-buying public.

This is just the tonic Nintendo needed after the dismal commercial performance of the Wii U, a system which struggled to find an audience and was largely shunned by retailers - including UK specialist GAME, which has just posted its latest financial numbers.

The chain saw profits slump by 27 percent after a weak Christmas, but it wasn't all bad news - the arrival of the Switch means that the second half of GAME's financial year is up by 20 percent.

Speaking to Gamesindustry.biz, GAME CEO Martyn Gibbs explained exactly why the chain has so much confidence in the console, given that Nintendo's previous machine did so poorly:

Gamesindustry.biz: Speaking of Nintendo, you seem to have high expectations for Nintendo Switch going forwards, which is notable considering the rather poor performance of Wii U. Why do you have such confidence?

Martyn Gibbs: The appetite that we have seen for the Switch console has, I think, been driven around the usability and exactly what the console is. You only have to play Zelda on-the-move - as you will have done - and you get it in a nanosecond. For me, it is worth the money just to get that [Zelda] experience in a large-screen mobile version. The concept is very strong and obviously having a launch game with a Metacritic of 97 is wholly helpful. I think the fact that we know what games are coming - we know we have Mario Kart, and then Splatoon 2 and then Super Mario Odyssey - is a good reason why people want to buy the console.

Launching with a game of Zelda's quality will no doubt have helped, but it's encouraging to see that consumers have embraced the core concept of the Switch; hopefully that appetite will continue to drive sales through 2017 in the same way that the Wii's motion controls captured the attention of players a decade ago.