Nintendo France Expects Switch To Beat Wii U's Lifetime Sales In Region By Year End

That'd be nice for Nintendo, but I'll believe it when I see it.

That puts how badly Wii U sold into perspective.

Extremely plausible, if you ask me. There was a Switch commercial on prime time Spanish TV yesterday. Do you know how many Wii U commercials I recall watching, especially before launch? I bet you can guess the number.

I doubt the Wii U's marking campaign was any different in France, taking into account buying habits and proximity. Nintendo would have to do something worse than nothing at all to not surpass Wii U sales in this region.

@jimi Pre-order culture isn't really a thing outside of the Anglosphere. I myself have question why I have one pre-ordered at all, it's not like I'd have any problem getting one if I walked into your average videogame store on the 3rd.

I think 3DS will become a budget system aimed at casual late adopters and young kids this year and beyond. It'll probably stay on store shelves for a good while to come, not dissimilar to how Apple positions its older iPhone models as budget options right alongside its expensive new flagship phones.

@jimi Nintendo France guy is correct. A higher availability at Launch is what Nintendo promised. It is what they are delivering.
Amazon can still offer Switch because more deliveries incoming.
Nintendo stated they had the ability to quickly ramp up production which is what they have done - they would have been able to assess this shortly after the January pre-orders opened.

France as far as I'm aware was the best performing region for Wii U in Europe and the sales were still atrocious.

He's got a point regarding Mario Kart 8. I did not have the Wii U. I'm getting my Switch next week and Mario Kart will probably be my next buy after Zelda.

@jimi I'm aware you are not, it's not relevant to the point I was making. It just makes your perception of your own area more twisted.

Because you simply do not know if it will sell out and/or the price would be raised again
From memory, that has never happened before here. I'd be surprised if France's case wasn't the same. Sounds like consumerism-induced fear.

They really need price cuts on the 3ds already! 150$ is a good price point. They can continue for a couple more years if they cut the price.

@jimi Was it Nintendo dropping the price, or retailers doing so to get the jump on preorders? Because here in the UK certain retailers have undercut the RRP also. I think it was Gameseek who are still alleging that they'll honour £198 preorders.

Nintendo. Price cut.

Never.

Wii U = what an absolute disaster. A console nobody wanted and nobody cared about

@Spoony_Tech
$150 for New 3DS XL, $120 for New 3DS.

That could definitely ensure another year or 2, and maybe even see 3DS match GBA 80mil by the end of 2018

@jimi
It says only 1 left in stock. What happens is you have thousands of people who cancel a preorder, it gets put back up, more people order, etc. It's a revolving door with low number stock. Happens on US Amazon too, they just sell out within seconds.

Also, says that price includes VAT, which makes it a better deal than here in the US. Since you guys have like 20% tax right? Nintendo probably had to work around that high tax to keep cost down. I know alot of people were complaining the EU tax skyrocketed the price.

But ya, I don't think they need to sell Mario Kart 8 to Wii casuals. There's a large group of gamers out there (not to mention 65m 3DS owners, all of whom already have a predisposition to portable gaming).

@CB85 Yeah i agree, You remember those wannabee gameboys in de 90's that only played variations of tetris? Nintendo can take over that market with the 3ds

Well, with all the marketing around it, I don't doubt the Switch will perform better than the Wii U. Nintendo never tried with it.

@jimi Nintendo isn't allowed to set a price in Europe, so they couldn't have done a price cut. The reason why it's 300 euros in France is because of a pricing war between Fnac and Amazon.fr. If it weren't for Fnac, Amazon wouldn't have dropped the price, as it is still the same price in the other european regions. So stop making up this narrative that the Switch is selling badly and that's why they had to lower the price. We won't know if the Switch is going to sell good numbers until after it has launched.

@jimi
photo hosting

(translated to English)

@jimi Amazon ultimately sets the price, not Nintendo. And I'm glad that for once they seem to have enough stock.

@jimi
Yes, you're right, I just "edited it in".

Sure thing dude. Ya got me /s

@jimi
Dude.

1 Go on Amazon France desktop site.
2 Search "Nintendo Switch"
3 Translate the results page with Google Translate

All Amazons state how much stock there is left when it's a low number. This is normal

@jimi
They are sold out here in the States though D:

I thought he meant the worldwide lifetime sales.
Just Frances is much more realistic.

@JaxonH To be fair, it isn't showing up for me either. It might have to do with Amazon France not accepting orders from continental Europe. If they can dispatch them to the US, that might be why you're able to see it.

@jimi I'm talking about your weird doomsday narrative about the Switch bombing on France because Amazon still has preorders up.

I can't believe you managed to make me write something so ridiculous, btw.

@jimi @MarcelRguez
Who knows.

I'm just showing what it says

@jimi + including 1-2 switch in digital form would have cost almost nothing to Nintendo (unless they really think that they are going to sell a lot of them at 50 euros, which I highly doubt)...

Given how the Wii sells were greatly boosted by the fact that Wii sport was included (and I'm not talking about the original NES with Mario Bros.), I really do not understand Nintendo's decision not to include 1-2 switch (or another game) in the bundle... I'm sure it would have made a huge difference for a lot of consumers...

Nothing spectacular about outselling a pathetic WiiU in a European country.

The spin is to automatically assume that every one who bought a WiiU will buy a Switch straight away, the same way the "experts" assumed "everyone" that bought a Wii will buy a WiiU a few years back.

My personal prediction for the Switch is that it will follow a 3DS pattern. Once the fanboys have bought it sales will slow down as cautious potential buyers wait and see.

After a year or so it will perform OK if the games come. I mean real games that sell consoles, and a constant supply of them, not indie shovel ware that only extreme fanboys get excited about.

@jimi zelda is only 52 EUR on amazon.fr. thoughts?

@BinaryFragger
I rest my case. Seriously though Nintendo don't have a choice, they have to hype up their system and say it will sell great. They simply have to.

It's those that take everything Nintendo say as gospel that needs to wake up.

The rest of the world was saying only fanboys will care about the WiiU and Nintendo and its fanboys were saying "everyone" will buy one. Yes, I remember the blind deluded fans of 2012.

History sometimes repeats itself.
I think in the end the Switch should be OK but that depends on Nintendo, not the consumer.

The optimism is admirable, but frankly I don't see that happening. I fully expect the system to outsell the Wii U in its lifetime, but moving 13 million in nine months? Not happening.

Would it take much? Maybe by the beginning of 2018 it will outsell, but not until then. Nintendo will short this system, and we'll see a massive shortage on it (just like the Wii era). With the hype and of how the preorders are already doing, I can see it outselling the Wii U, Gamecube and possibly come close to the N64...however, they have a ways to go to even come close to the Wii (could I see it beating the Wii...no, but I see it coming close). Time will tell, and it's all up to nintendo...on if they will continue to advertise and market the machine and on how well they help out 3rd parties by supporting them. Make it happen nintendo, you're doing good with 3rd parties now, but you need to continue to make them happy, or it's more of the Wii U era.

@jimi 1 2 Switch will probably sell pretty good, but it will get a massive price drop by the holiday (possibly even sooner). It will definitely become a drop bin game. The Wii Play game was horrible and lacked content, but they packaged it with a Remote (which was hard as balls to find at that time) which helped push the sales on that game...but look in a Game store, and you find a ton of copies of Wii Play sitting on the used shelves. 1 2 Switch will do well, considering there's not a whole lot out for the system at launch that will compare to it...but once Mario Kart 8 comes out and more come out later on, it will be overlooked and will be the cheap game for the system later on.

@jimi I got the wii u version for 44 EUR (incl. shipping) on amazon.co.uk. but that's not the point!
What I meant was: How do you explain that zelda (switch) is so cheap on amazon.fr compared to other stores around europe?

+1 double dipping on Mario Kart 8. I dare say there will be plenty of Wii U owners buying a Switch who'll be trading up (act soon guys - value is dropping fast).

Portable MK8 with all DLC and a fully fledged Battle Mode can't be ignored.

(I did the same with Rayman, Steep, Zombie Vikings...).

That will not take much. Teheee!

What a cheerful bunch.

For some reason I can't picture Nintendo France's rep turning round and saying "oh it's gonna tank like you won't believe bro!" It's actually good to be optimistic sometimes believe it or not. Oh well we'll see by the end of the year how accurate the business ANALysts at Nintendolife are. lol

@MarcelRguez @jimi Cut the bad language out, please.

I think he's being... very generous with those figures... No Zelda title has had anywhere near a 1:1 attach rate, and I think the closest to that was Link's Awakening DX on GBC. (Which was closer to 1:10)

@BensonUii Oh, whoops. That's what I get for skimming the article instead of reading it through. My bad.

That said, though, I still don't see that happening, even just in France.

@gcunit My mistake, the filter went down for a sec.

@jimi Switch isn't sold out - "nobody wants it!"
Switch is sold out - "Nintendo creates artificial demand!"

God bless the fans.

And I don't know how much you've tried playing active games on Appledroid devices, but if you want Mario Kart there, it's your business. Personally, I'll pass on the ordeal of ghostly intangible controls (even driving Saints Row IV cars on Vita can be awkward as the acceleration and brakes are firmly tied to the rear touchpad) and watching "proper life battery" go poof once it's out of the comfort zone of Facebook and Cut the Rope. ^^;

I wouldnt look too far into high demand for the initial stock as there are plenty of peeps buying multiple machines to resell on ebay etc.
I went to the manchester switch event and apart from only getting 5 mins on zelda,( intro was best part of 5 mins, I found a stick and climbed a rock) everything else was just quality, machine, joycons, games all had the ninty touch. Scary moment when my partner dropped a joycon, thank god it didnt break or I might have had to take out a bank loan to pay for it!
Unfortunately the uk marketing is poor as usual - went into a game store and the tiny switch poster was hidden behind games. No demo pod and the staff still had very little details from nintendo about the switch. The staff said it was typical nintendo, they havnt learnt a thing.
If Nintendo uk want to attract the masses they need demo pods in shopping malls before release. That is the best way to start momentum and spread word on just how much fun the machine is.

I havnt got a degree in marketing but Im sure I could do a far better job than nintendo uk!

@jimi sorry man I've seen your rants on here a thousand times and I really can't be bothered to see another. I get it, you're upset.

@Sanangelo89 Yeah definitely. A 99 Dollars/Euros (or less, in time) New 3DS with a pack-in game, along with budget classic titles like the Nintendo selects would kill it at retail I think!

Some comparisons for Nintendo's hardware sales in France:

Wii U first month sales: 110,000 units
Wii U first year sales (Nov 2012 - Dec 2013): 300,000 units
Wii U current lifetime sales: 800,000 units

Wii first month sales: 180,000 units
Wii first year sales (Nov 2006 - Dec 2007): 1.3 million units
Wii lifetime sales: 6 million units

Switch first day projected sales: 95,000 units
Switch first month projected sales: ??? (Personal guess is 180,000, like the Wii)
Switch first year projected sales (Mar 2017 - Dec 2017): 800,000 units

Nintendo is clearly aiming high with the Switch. Selling 800,000 by the end of the year is ambitious, but not impossible.

France is probably Nintendo's strongest market in Europe, particularly with their handhelds. The DS sold 10 million units and is the best selling gaming device ever in France. The 3DS has not performed nearly as well, with current sales at 4.7 million (expected to reach 5.4 million by the end of 2017), but it is still good number nevertheless. Since the Switch is a hybrid and not a traditional home console, one should probably take Nintendo's handheld history into account when making sales projections.

@kobashi100 You should really speak for yourself on that one. Wii - U is my favorite home console of all time and That's why I have two of them and I am skipping on the Switch. I have all that I need and plenty of games to last me and besides why would I want to buy new hardware that is a slight or modest upgrade over the last. To be quite honest when they show side by comparisons of Wii - U to Switch half the time I really can't see much of a difference. I don't care about graphics but no way am I paying over 300 dollars for new hardware that's basically to me a gimped portable as I don't care about portability I only game a few hours a week and at home. I have had battery problems and had to buy a new battery for Wii - U and with Switch you can't just buy and replace yourself. You would have to pay to ship back and forth to Nintendo plus pay for the new battery I don't think so. Pay online when its not much of an improvement over the free version. very short battery life of 2.5 to 3 hours. When I have a battery that lasts around 8 hours for the Wii-U. Each day more and more 3rd parties saying why they love the switch so darn much but hey were not going to put our game on it. The only game worth getting is Breath of the Wild but I can have it on my Wii - U so why bother getting a switch. New HD rumble technology that so far is only implemented on 1-2 switch and not even a big flagship title such as breath of the wild. A very tight canned lip on if you can transfer your wii - u purchases having the same Nintendo ID over to the switch. All these unanswered questions means there either hiding something or certain things were rushed to meet an early launch but either way count me out. Also no backwards compatibility which is what sold me on the Wii - U. At the time when Wii was out I always meant to get one but never got around to it so when Wii - U came out it was like getting two consoles in one. I can go on and on about how Switch is not going to hit such a high territory of sales as people predict. Last thing over priced hard ware with no pack in game. Peripherals that are extremely over priced and if you get the extra joy cons and pro controllers you can spend over 500 to 600 dollars and yet still no game. Nintendo is either arrogant or expecting their flagship fanboys to support them blindly as they always do. To me there is no reason for a WII - U owner to move over to switch in my honest opinion.

@ jimi I don't think just France but I don't think Switch will do much better than Wii - U may hit 15 to 20 million lifetime sales as all the top tier 3rd party games that are resource hungry praise the switch but for awhile almost daily on here the article will read something like this, "why so and so praises the switch but were not putting our game on it" LOL what a joke.

@WiltonRoots I don't blame you.

@Spoony_Tech This. In North America the 3DS price is higher now than it was in 2011? Come on Nintendo. :/

I don't know the market in France, I've only been once on a school trip. Is it unreasonable to outsell the Wii U? It seems the Wii U was nintendos biggest flop. I never saw marketing and didn't know many that owned one. It would seem on marketing and portability alone, the Switch would outsell it.

The nearly 1-1 attach rate with BOTW seems about right to me. I would figure that 4 out of 5 preorders also preordered zelda.

Ugh please put the 3ds out to pasture so we can focus on switch.

If the Switch actually sells 95,000 on its first day, if sales are extrapolated to other territories across the globe, I would expect the Switch to sell well over 1 million units on Day One, possible closer to 1.5 million.

That 2 million launch month shipment is starting to look like a ridiculously conservative and safe prediction.

I want the 3ds to live on!

@BinaryFragger The people back then are pooping all over the WiiU. The comments are all negative. Now though there is hardly any negative Switch comments.