The holiday season is an important part of the year for any company in the entertainment world, with key products usually being advertised as the perfect gift for our nearest and dearest. As shoppers flock to stores, said products are sold in their millions, and it would appear that Nintendo's reliance on this traditionally money-generating season is considerably high, too.
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has spoken about this "critically important" time in a discussion with Yahoo Finance. The Americas are Nintendo's highest-earning region, and the holiday season is its highest-earning time frame, so nailing product lineups and marketing at this time is clearly an essential task.
“The holiday selling season — October, November and December — critically important to our company. We typically do, in the Americas, about 60% of our revenue during that time frame. The reason that it’s so significant is first, our products make great gifts. Whether you’re talking about Nintendo Switch, whether you’re talking about Nintendo 2DS, we really do well with that gift-giving occasion.”
This year has seen both Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate smushed together to launch just in time for the holidays - arguably Nintendo's most important two software titles of the year. When you see just how crucial this time period is for sales, it's pretty easy to understand why such a tactic was put in place, and Nintendo will be expecting to draw ever closer to that 20 million Switch sales target for this financial year.
Will you be purchasing the odd Nintendo present or two for your family and friends? Perhaps you're hoping to receive some Ninty gifts of your own? Feel free to let us know with a comment below.
[source finance.yahoo.com]
Comments 41
Fa-la-la-la-la
la-la ca-ching
I wouldn't be surprised
I’m sure that figure is similar for Sony and Microsoft. Heck, I bet nearly every company that sells entertainment products has similar profit ratios. The holiday season makes or breaks retail companies.
Hence, smash in December I guess.
@justin233 Lol, did you count out those la's to make it fit so nicely?
Ironically these is usually the era I get barely any new releases and look for sales to grab those outstanding; as I rarely am interested in the AAA big releases. Odyssey last year was the first late-year release I grabbed in yonks.
With Smash and Pokemon, this holiday is looking better than ever to get a Switch.
So in other words, game droughts aren’t actually a big deal at the end of the day as normal people do not buy 5 new $80 video games every month.
With a good back catalogue, Pikachu, and Smash probably will do quite well. Although rising student debts, stagnant wages, and lower corporate taxes aren’t going to make anyone rush out to spend money they already earned. Yayy for credit!
Yeah, casuals surely have fun with this console atm. I'm looking forward to Pokemon next year and a bit of information for Metroid.
@Onkel_Laser are non-causals having a miserable time currently?
"The Americas are Nintendo's highest-earning region." - And yet it's Japan and Europe that get most of Nintendo's limited edition physical goodies while North America gets ignored. #logic
@Euler Most of us already knew that but it does beg the question: How do all these companies make money with the flood of games on the market continuously (outside Nintendo) yet low overall sales per consumer?
Sounded extreme until you realise they include October in the "holiday season".
I thought they just meant Thanksgiving til New Year.
I do know quite a few people personally who ended up buying the Pokémon Let's Go Switch console bundle, so clearly Nintendo was right to save Pokémon for the holiday season. And I'm sure the same will be said for Smash Bros.
@Onkel_Laser
Ah people are still trying ‘casual’ as an insult. How quaint. I’m getting all nostalgic for the Wii days now.
@electrolite77 If it was an insult, it was entirely of your own interpretation.
Makes sense. I bought a lot of games just because Black Friday was there (Amazon Germany had a buy 3 pay 2 for games and did not matter if they were lauch games)
@Onkel_Laser You’re right Dark Souls, Diablo 3, and Hollow Knight are for casuals. I prefer long sessions with Dwarf Fortress and Infocom text adventure games. My house is strewn with maps and possible scenarios/interactions I haven’t attempted. I’m still learning how to play Dwarf Fortress but it’s been a great 30 hours.
I agree. I bought a Switch with Pokemon, Mario Odyssey, Zelda Botw and Mario Kart for my little Sister this Black Friday and I am planning to gift it to her on Xmas.
It's a Nintendo Holiday in my house for sure: Pokemon, Smash, controllers, and some nifty digital sales.
Interesting he said 2ds and not 3ds.
@Onkel_Laser
*Sigh
And what defines a casual? Pokemon fans? Those who are waiting for Smash? What is the difference between a hardcore Pokemon fan, or somebody who has his eyes set on a game that is over a year away from release? What are your in-between games?
The term "casual" is an infinitely stupid one, and it really is nothing more than a buzzword for people who refuse to think for themselves. I'm sorry, but it's true. It's also an insulting term that is used to put down somebody else's enjoyment of something.
Anyway.....
I would say that Switch has plenty of "non-casual" games to play. I'm not going to go through the obnoxious task of listing them out. A point of reference: at the moment, I'm juggling Dark Souls Remaster, Civilization 6, and Mega Man 11. All are games that have dropped in the past two months. There is plenty to play.
Why am I not surprised... 😑
I only buy more at this time because there are more sales spread those sales out and nintendo would get a more constant flow from my wallet
so is that why Nintendo released nothing of note during all of 2018 until Pokemon and Smash?
The Switch was the only console with a sale decline in October in the US. So more like "November - December" 🙄
https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/call-of-duty-black-ops-4-top-game-of-october-1203034404/
https://www.digit.in/gaming/playstation-4-outsold-the-xbox-one-and-nintendo-switch-in-october-44854.html
@LUIGITORNADO
Yeah. The correct one. If you don’t think it was meant that way and isn’t often used that way I hope you also still believe in Santa and the tooth fairy. Anything else may be too much of a shock.
Pfft...you're all casuals to me with your "videogames" I play purely math based card games tallied with an abacus and electromechanical games. Getting a program to do the hard work for ya!
j/k
@Trajan if you look at their quarterly reports, the 3DS is gone, the New 3DS XL shipments were so low, it's on its way to being discontinued (from the fact it only shipped 10,000 to Japan all year, it looks like it already is discontinued in Japan). The 2DS versions are the only thing they're making now. That tells me there really is a cheaper version of Switch coming soon, they're cutting the highest priced 3DS model to make room on the market for it.
That's an insane percentage. There must be an opportunity to use the other ten months or so. Like launching the switch in March and selling it like hotcakes.
D'oh.
@nintendosage Yeah I know that the model 3ds is practically gone, just find it odd they're calling the platform 2ds now.
@Dezzy
A lot of companies really mean the fourth quarter of the year.
Nintendo are nicely placed anyway. Up year on year as of the last results, we know Pokemon has caused a spike and that appears to apply to the US as well where ‘growth is extraordinary’
https://twitter.com/benjisales/status/1066797811893706752?s=21
Isn't that kind of a no brainer?
I do agree with him, Nintendo products do make great gifts. PlayStation and xbox are decisive but who would get mad at a switch even if it is a secondary console. And the classic systems are really good gifts
Release your only interesting games in the end of the year and claim it’s the most imported period of the year for Nintendo...
This is Reggie... always saying things we already know.
If only Nintendo had something for me to buy this Christmas....Smash isn't my thing and Bayo 3/Metroid Prime 4/Daemon x Machina are a long way out. Edit: Oops, there's Wolfenstein II for switchso that's on the list...OK, my bad lol! (Doom was AWESOME)
I was buying a switch anyways before Black Friday, but Smash Bros. Ultimate was the cherry on top lol. Metroid 4 and maybe more Bayonetta 3 being further announced at the game awards next Thursday though 😁!!!
@BanjoPickles You have a great taste in games!
Casual isn’t an insult. It’s a descriptor that helps (in the case of games) the developer serve the end users better. It’s no different than announcing yourself as a hobbyist or professional in other areas. Plenty of manufacuters/businesses/retailers service both (oftentimes with overlapping products). They need to know your situation to get you what you need/want.
@Paulywally Can’t we vote on the game awards? Do you know when is starts?
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