Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Nintendo Switch Are Still On Top in Japan

It's pretty interesting that Nintendo might be able to enjoy two launch month sale spress if the holidays work it. I don't expect that much of an upward jump until then though, hopefully Nintendo is stocking up a large supply for the December. As that's the reason they really aren't experiencing mega sales right now anyways.

I don't know why but for some reason I don't think Arms will take off in Japan. Hope I'm wrong. Might be like Splatoon when everyone sees it for themselves they'll want it.

Has Switch found its average weekly sales? They're by no means bad but nothing stellar either. It'll pick up for ARMS and then it'll be interesting when Splatoon 2 launches. I expect huge sales then.

How do these sales figures stack up against how other consoles (Wii U, PS4, etc) were doing at this point in their respective lifecycles? I'm no analyst but these figures seem fairly low, to me at least.

@Nintendoforlife Splatoon 2 will boost Switch sales in Japan nicely. As for building up stock for December...it's not happening right now. No manufacture is going to sit on inventory for 6 months as it would cost a fortune. At this point, they're selling every system made. Let hope that they can get Foxconn to ramp up production enough ahead of the holidays so that the system is more readily available for Christmas shoppers.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE It's still sold out, so the weekly sales will be whatever Nintendo manages to supply, which seems very little at the moment. They might be waiting for Arms before supplying more units.

@Moon It's still sold out in Japan, so the sales being low is 100% Nintendo's fault. Here is an image from Neogaf on the sales compared to other launches in Japan:

http://oi1342.photobucket.com/albums/o763/hiska-kun/switch2_zpsnrgzqs5h.jpg

Only the 3ds is selling more, apparently.

@Amsterdamsters The thing is with the Switch out of stock so much, they are limiting possible sales. Even if Splatoon 2 is insanely popular, the lack of stock might prohibit them from selling to those who want to purchase.

@Nintendoforlife that's sad. I really wish they were producing more consoles

I'm glad Echoes is still doing well. Even though it's not a Fates/awakening type of win, it looks like it will have some legs anoung the community.

@DrkBndr Wow, thanks. It's actually doing a lot better than I thought.

@Fred13 It is sort of sad, but I honestly don't think Nintendo expected this. They just didn't prepare enough resources for the demand.

Total Nintendo domination. Nintendo sold 44,358 consoles versus 21,742 for the rest of the entire market, combined. They held a 66% share of all console sales.

When does Sony begin to worry? A recent investment analysis of all global monthly videogame sales shows that PS4 sales have fallen by 50% since the Switch was released, from 1 milllion sold per month to 500k. Xbone sales have fallen from 500k per month to around 250k. The Switch did launch fairly recently still and it has two killer apps with Zelda and MK, but the momentum taken away from the other consoles is quite significant.

Sony recently answered investor questions on the Switch and they stated they beleive it'll be good for everyone that Nintendo is surging with the Switch. Which in reality says we just don't know yet how it will affect our PS4 product in the long run.

The Switch is a disruptor. Lets see how long that continues...its up to you to deliver that, Nintendo.

@Nintendoforlife I completely agree. Sadly, when you're having a million of something manufactured a month and have demand for two million a month, increasing production to meet demand can take time. It's more involved than just making a phone call and seeing it's effect immediately.

@Equinox When you're having a million of something produced a month and have demand for say 2 million a month, there are a lot of factors that can get in the way of production meeting demand. This is far more advanced than just hiring some extra help.

Nintendo dominating (especially with Switch). Great!

Why they even bother including Wii U and XBox One figures at this point is beyond me.

@Nintendoforlife I see a lot of comments like yours, but it's just not that simple. Nintendo doesn't manufacture the Switch, just as Sony doesn't manufacture the PS4 or Microsoft the Xbox One. The manufacture (Foxconn) has dedicated resources allocated to the production of the Switch. They have only so much room to "turn on" more production. Plus you have all of the component suppliers that would now have to also increase production. It just not as simply as flipping a Switch...it takes time.

@Amsterdamsters I think you miss-understood me. What I was saying is "before" the switch released they didn't plan to make enough. Obviously, when you put in an order for two million you can't just make it 4 million and everything is fine. But if you put in an order for 4 million at the start, it's much easier to fulfill. That's why I believe they stopped the NES mini production, to make more Switches available.

@Equinox The system has been out for 2 months, 3 weeks. They sold 2.74 million Switches in the month of March. They've been having approximately 1 million units manufactured a month and have been selling about 250 thousands units a week. Japan is typically a smaller market for something like this. North American and Europe have higher sales than what Japan does and they too been sold out. If you believe that this is all Nintendo's fault and they should be able to flip a switch and have systems in all stores, you simple don't understand manufacturing at all.

"it'll be intriguing to see whether upcoming arrivals like ARMS prompt a sharp uptick in sales"

Yes it will. Somehow though I don't think it will...

I think the Switch will sell around 25,000-30,000 units per week until Arms, then sales should spike back up to the original 45,000-50,000 weekly average. Splatoon 2 will be absolutely massive.

Nintendo needs to manage supply better, though post-Golden Week sales are still always terrible. I mean, just look at that software sales charts - games selling around 3,000 copies are among the Top 10 best sellers of the week.

The Switch is still tracked to beat the 3DS soon when sales are launch aligned.
http://s1342.photobucket.com/user/hiska-kun/media/switch_zpswhrokulb.jpg.html

@Nintendoforlife The problem is 4 million Switches would cost Nintendo about $1 Billion to have manufactured. At 1 million units produced a month, that would mean that most of that $1 Billion would be due on terms to suppliers before the first unit would be sold. Now, lets say the Switch didn't take off, would you want to be responsible for $1 Billion in inventory that isn't moving very quickly?!?

Yay...!!
Now, Nintendo should release Switch in different color to boost the sales even more.

@Amsterdamsters Heck no I wouldn't, all I'm saying is Nintendo played it very safe. I'm not saying that's a bad thing or a good thing to do, they made their decision and it didn't work out for them. I do find it odd how this can be Nintendo's fastest selling console, and they didn't seem prepared at all. I get not knowing it will sell this well, but it doesn't even seem like they planned for above average sales.

@Nintendoforlife They never seem to be prepared. Lately they have been way too caution and it's been hurting them.

Look at the Nes mini as a recent example. The new 3ds was also a major issue it's first two months

@SLIGEACH_EIRE For now the figures are constrained by limited supply rather than limited demand so it's pretty hard to put a gauge on it. Demand so far is still quite a bit stronger than supply as the rising scalper prices indicate. They fall when Nintendo releases a new wave and climb again shortly after.

For Japan-specific sales the key factor here is Switch is still, even with the supply constraints, outselling all 3DS family systems combined, and outselling the PS4 family as well, which before the launch of the Switch the 3DS family was outselling the PS4 family very consistently since launch. That gives an important note that it IS replacing the 3DS in sales in Japan, which is a key to its support by third parties.

The other interesting thing is a handful of people actually bought WiiUs. And it's STILL more people than bought XBox Ones

@Nintendoforlife After WiiU and knowing 3DS is firmly entrenched, there wouldn't be much reason for them to plan for above average sales. Though Kimishima did anticipate Wii-like sales, her perhaps did not anticipate Wii-like sales pacing in the first 6 months.

Wow. These are terrible numbers all round. Hope to japen market picks up again soon.

@liljmoore That does appear to be a problem with Nintendo currently.

@NEStalgia You would think through maybe surveys they would be able to gauge some sort of interest, that would make them think "this might move some units"

I think the sales are like this cause people is holding off for Splatoon 2 combo.

E3 is also around the corner.

@Tsurii I like Conquests gameplay and characters. Birthright and revelations were just ok. Awakening's first 12 chapters are good, but than you can just solo the game with nod tanks, Lucina and Robin, which isn't very fun. Plus, making the avatar a major part of the story was a mistake. Echoes is amazing though! Except Faya. She's disgusting

@Nintendoforlife I think they were too terrified and paranoid of ANY potential leak or rumor confirmation, so surveys were right out. And that paranoia was justifiable. Not so much MS and Sony, but Apple or Samsung catching wind of the concept too early could have been REALLY devastating in removing the hardware "wow factor" before it hit shelves and made it look like a "mii too" device, even if the others were just shallow clones.

No doubt they had market research analysts (and nVidia) helping estimate demand. But honestly I wonder how surveys would have really helped. Even here on NLife, the core market for it, there was a lot of doom and gloom leading up to it about how it was going to fail until people started actually got to see them and realize how cool it is. And by the time we saw it, production had already been long under way and the contracts hashed out.

I think it's one of those self-selling products. Nobody knew they wanted one until they saw they could have one and it's just "clicking" in the right ways (pun half intended.)

people are obviously waiting for that splatoon bundle.

@NEStalgia Very fair points

I have yet to see a Switch in stock anywhere.

@Mr_Zurkon You really have to be in line to see them. My local TRU had 40 switches last Friday and only 10 neon. Thankfully I was 6th in line and was able to pick one up.

Pretty great numbers considering how hard it is to find a switch.

Edit: Looks at Xbone numbers...just stop MS at this point you are paying the Japanese to buy the system. I'm sure they are spending more in marketing than they are seeing in purchase revenue.

@NEStalgia You're going to want to add Sony back into that list. When the Wii was announced it gained a ton of buzz because of the motion controls. Sony then felt it necessary to add sixaxis to it's DualShock 3 controller followed by their Move controllers. Sony has never really been first with anything truly innovative in the video game market and has relied mostly on copying others. In the beginning it worked because of their marketing might. Since then they've somehow managed to form a rabid following. I've owned each of their systems, yet none of them were my favorite for each of their respected generations.

@Amsterdamsters Yeah, Sony has a fun history of copying Nintendo (and others), but they're never terribly fast at doing it, and aren't currently in a position to be rolling out either a new handheld or new mobile device, so they were probably not a factor in Nintendo's worrying of spoiling launch impact. They might copy later, but only after they saw if it was successful or not

@Nintendoforlife
Grats! Hope your finding plenty of time to play with your new Switch.

@Agent721 this is a really weird, misplaced comment. The PS4 has been out for years, the Switch only three months. Of course the Switch is 'surging'. The only real comparison will be lifetime hardware/software sales.

PS4 will 'surge' when heavy hitters like KH3 come out, possibly later in the year. And it will continue boosting worldwide with titles like Battlefront 2 and Last of Us 2. To suggest that Switch sales scare Sony is, well, weird.

@Mogster

I'm just telling you what investors directly asked Sony's CEO. It's also been addressed in a few investment articles. Investors do no want to lose money and take every risk very seriously. It only makes sense they address the Switch's impact on the PS ecosystem.