Switch Surpasses Wii U Lifetime Sales in UK, But Its Dominance Isn't As Strong As Elsewhere

Still doing good though

The article sounds a little bitter about Switch's success. It's definitely one place that the Switch won't break any records. The story mentions other consoles reaching the 1 million mark in less than a year, it could be a good while before Switch breaks the 1 million mark there.

Nintendo’s just known as the “kids” console, at least amongst the people I know here in the UK. Xbox and Playstation are the “adult” platforms and it’s been this way since the Wii.

I’m glad Europe, NA and Japan are giving Nintendo the respect they deserve. The Switch is a great console but people are ignorant here in the UK.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE

Interested to know what makes you think that? The UK has been a tough home console market for Nintendo for decades now. Certainly a fair series of questions in my eyes.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Pointing out Nintendo's poor market share with UK consumers is a valid criticism.

The problem with Nintendo is that they still see the UK as the "European market". Nintendo of Europe is headquartered in Germany so that doesn't really help them in understanding the UK market. Honestly, I don't think that Nintendo cares about the UK because its geographical market is smaller than the United States.

Most people are pretty brain-dead here the UK. Anything colourful or imaginative is for kids, and many kids want to play seemingly "adult" games. Although, Nintendo don't help themselves by barely advertising and allowing Game to sell exclusives at ridiculously inflated prices.

Nintendo are turning it around here in the UK though, I know at least 2 of my mates who never even entertained the idea of owning a Nintendo console before, both now own a switch and think it's the best thing since sliced bread.

As a Switch owner in UK, I am the only owner of the console out of my gaming friends. I keep showing them my switch and telling them to get one but they are plain not interested. Some of them got burned on gamecubes lack of support the Wii's casual market grab and the WiiU being DOA. For the record I think they are missing out as it is a great bit of kit.

The UK has kind of historically been lukewarm about Nintendo, haven’t they?

@TheMadPolarBear Nintendo has always struggled in the UK. It was Sega who first made success with consoles over here, then it became Sony with the PlayStation line and that's the way it has remained ever since. Nintendo has only really been big with the DS and Wii consoles.

Nintendo has typically struggled there, I think we should just focus on the silver lining.

They could probably fix that with Call of Duty (soon) and GTA. Oh, and remind people that FIFA and Just Dance are on it.

There goes my limited understanding of the UK market as a gamer in America.

@TheMadPolarBear That mentality always cracked me up, even as a teenager. Nintendo has always been the "kiddy" console, every since the PS2 released. Now days, it seems the only ones still clinging to the "it's too childish" argument, are children themselves. As an early 30's gamer, I really couldn't care any less if NIntendo makes family friendly games - if it brings me more gems like Zelda, Mario Kart, Xenoblade, Smash Bros, etc... I think Switch is also doing a great job of putting out games for all demographics, so hopefully the opinion that the system is just for kids is changing.

@thesilverbrick At the very least, they were back in the Sega days. Guess I haven't really looked into it too much since then, but it would seem to still be the case.

I can't really see Nintendo ever overtaking Sony or Microsoft here in the uk. Nintendo prices are super high. I bought the switch early but I can't blame anyone not wanting one if they already have a PS4 Xbox. The games are nearly double the price. Even the Wii u was being sold higher than the PS4 here as well as the games. Also Nintendo doesn't not have the shelf space in stores or the advertisements on tv or street boards or dustbins or bus tops or on trees like the others do

Let's do more Brainwashing to UK Gamers with Kiddie and Colorful Nintendo brand !
They should learn to Like and Appreciate something Kiddie from Nintendo.
LABO will be their next challenges.

@TheMadPolarBear I'd argue it's been like that since the original PlayStation launch featuring Wipeout and a drug-overdosing Sara Cox. Sony went for "games aren't for kids any more" marketing and have never looked back.

@roadrunner343 Yeah, see it always annoys me. The funny thing is, if you call them out by saying how good quality the games are, people usually reply saying Mario/Zelda/Pokemon are exactly the same games "every year".

You should see the look on their faces when you ask them whether they buy Fifa/Cod/Battlefield/Assassins Creed every year. Suddenly the rules no longer apply, despite Nintendo's exclusives innovating and taking years to release. It is laughable at this point.

I can remember liking ABBA back in the day. All my mates laughed at me, but I loved the ABBA songs, and still do.
It's a bit like that with me and Nintendo!

@1UP_MARIO How is it so expensive over there? Is there even standardized pricing?

Nintendo have never particularly had a strong retail presence here in Scotland.
A good indicator for me that the Switch has been doing well is that the likes of Asda and Tesco (general supermarkets) now have permanent Nintendo sections at their media aisle, which I haven't seen since very early in the Wii's lifespan, pre-shovelware outbreak.
I also personally know more people who own a Switch than who own an Xbox One, which pleases me to no end.

@masterLEON A new Nintendo release will retail for around £40-50, same as new releases for PS4, etc.
However, a couple of years later, that same Nintendo game will still retail at £40-50, while the games on PS4 it launched alongside now line the bargain bin.
It can be off-putting for customers who need to watch their cash, and aren't really that familiar with Nintendo.

To get a bit of perspective it would be interesting to know how Many PS4 consoles had been sold in the UK during the first 10 months on sale... Same with Xbox One

700,000 may not sound a lot compared to the USA but you have to take into account the size of the UK in comparrison

Don't know if anyone has access that that info?

@jsty3105 we hold grudges and when you release Super Mario RPG 13 years late, Chrono Trigger SNES 15 years late and Earthbound 18 years late, not to mention all the crap over the years and the horrific price gouging that makes the same games and consoles cost a butt ton more, your business moves elsewhere.

Microsoft and Sony were the ones who started releasing there massive 1st party games worldwide LONG before Nintendo.

Consoles too.

I still remember the 9 month wait for Brawl on Wii and when people bought a freeloader disc to import so they could play before the online was full of tryhards, Ninty did a firmware update to block the disc.

Nintendo treat us like crap and expect huge sales, nah, not gonna work.

Just another way for the UK to tell Europe that they don't belong together. Videogames are getting political!

A quick look at the prices will show you why the Switch missed the opportunity to sell more in the UK:
PS4 - £249.99 + game
XBO S - £229.99 + game
Switch - £279.99 (no game)

And I must add that those prices for PS4 & XBO are not the prices that were offered on the holiday season.
Around Xmas you could buy a XBO for less than £200 and the Switch was still the same price.

So basically you have two cheaper options with a game included and the Switch with is already more expensive and doesn't have any game which would set you back another £50-60 at least.

@tourjeff
If me, i will choose Switch instead despite being the most expensive.
Don't give me cheap price of PS4 + Free 1 game that i will Hate Most.
I Don't play Nice with Sony anymore.

@tourjeff I mean...lets see you launch a console and price match the cheaper to make and older systems while including a game. XD

Odd how Nintendo isn't big in the UK, but how many Nintendo-centric websites there are based in the UK, isn't it?

@Anti-Matter can’t there be games for everyone? Why does it have to all be cute kiddie stuff. I like that stuff but there surely is a market and place for the adult side of things as well. Just like music for different moods. Bashing something because it’s not you want us narrow minded. There’s enough for everyone

I'm surprised nobody has used the usual excuse for the UK yet, i.e. that we're supposedly "price sensitive" (ergo, cheap).

@MrGawain Loud minority

@Anti-Matter I did pick the Switch over the other options myself and don't regret it but the reality is that many families cannot afford the Switch.
After the Brexit, the exchange rate didn't help either so the prices went up.
So if you have a kid asking for a console and don't have a lot of money, you would certainly look for a bargain and that is what happened.
Of course, this is not the full picture of the situation.

@ummyHappyPills I'm not saying they should give any discounts, as you said, the console is new.
But come on, at least bundle the 1-2 Switch game...
Also, Nintendo is famous for not giving discounts on their products so I don't expect to see the prices dropping so soon.

@tourjeff You can't compare a console in its first year of life with consoles 4 years old!! All console prices decrease over time. You can be sure the Switch will decrease in price as well. Not to mention Switch has built in portability, which doesn't come cheap.

@Yas I'm not comparing their life times, I'm stating facts.
As I explained to another user, many families don't have the money to invest on the Switch so they will search and buy a cheaper console.
I understand that the tech on the Switch is remarkable and I have one myself that I use more than my PS4 but as I said not everyone can afford it.

@Anti-Matter I don't know what you want me to say. I don't get it

@TheMadPolarBear Dunno, Poland's in Europe and over here everything gets trounced by PlayStation. I think Wii-U had fewer than 400 lifetime sales over here, in a 40 million country.

Cya
Raziel-chan

UK has never been Nintendo territory. It goes all the way back to the Sega Master System/NES rivalry. There also is a perception that Nintendo is just for "kids". Whatever! Personally, I find it hard to take the gaming scene in the UK seriously when (almost without fail) the top selling games are FIFA and CoD each and every year.

@Mr_Pepperami
Oh, don't get me wrong.
Even though i Adore kiddie so much, i still have some Wild Side.
But my Wild Side is still Tolerable for General audiences (PG rated).
For example music.
I like musics from very slow & Melancholy until the Earbreaker Metal Punk like Mad Blast - The Infection (DrumMania 8th mix) (As long they are fit with my criterias).
Also, i have interest with some Tolerable Teen violence games like Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, etc.

@1UP_MARIO none of us do

@Equinox 6 of them here! Myself, wife and 4 kids. Making the Switch a "personal" console is making my wallet hurt.

If game stores in the UK would help promote the Switch games, that would be great. I still don't see Switch in supermarkets for example. PS4, X-Box One and 3DS are still in stores but not Switch. Also, the half shelf that GAME seems to give Nintendo is pretty pathetic.

@Anti-Matter How about just enjoying everything for what it is? I generally play Nintendo/Atlus games and then a couple of other random series on the side, but I don't make a point of hating everything else. Gaming is for entertainment, so just enjoy it for what it is and don't take it so seriously

As for this article it's good to hear that Nintendo is making some progress in my own country for once! Hopefully they keep up the pace so they can get the shelf space that they desperately need.

Because they stuck as the "Kids system" in the UK (and also in Spain up to a point) and Nintendo releasing everything they make with cartoony graphics (and now cardboard) does not help.

Hopefully Metroid will break the trend as usual.

Does this UK record include Irish sales also?

If you go into the HMV shop (the main computer game retailer over here) the only Nintendo stock is on 5 shelves a foot wide and 5 foot high. That is it, so not really suprised sales in the UK not as good as the other consoles

@gordjscott Basically this. I bought a Pro controller today. Took one look at the games & walked right out. NintendoUK is terrible at pricing.

@Yas even when the Wii u was dying. It was still more expensive than the PS4 in uk

I blame Nintendo's terrible marketing... They have done an outstanding job in the rest of the world but should have done much much more for the UK. France and Germany are places Nintendo is good at, but the UK has always been a place they can't manage anything in... Work hard NintendoUK, you can't mess around this time either...

@Marios-love-child Hello. As the GamesIndustry.biz article states, by this point PS4 had sold over one million consoles in the UK

@Anti-Matter I agree with you on this. I saved for the switch to get my son it for his bday as I thought it had the best games for his age range. There isn’t much on PS4 that I would say is completely kid friendly. Ratchet and clank but not much else. I grew up with Nintendo consoles and have owned everything they have made regardless of age as the gameplay transcends age.

The UK is thus a place of "needs improvement" for Nintendo, but if the marketing dollars don't equal the sales, then it's not worth it.

@Anti-Matter Think so. Not sure

I've notice more NIntendo games on store shelf's now than there has been since the Wii days, shows how popular the Switch is.

@Anti-Matter most adult gamers in uk do like games for everyone. I'm a father of 4 so in my house we have a wide variety of games like most families do. It's not their mind set. I think it's yours and your generalisation of everything.

Talking on shelf space in uk stores, how many games are there really out physically on switch that would be considered big enough releases to take up store space. There are the main Nintendo ones, la noire, doom, Skyrim etc but there are a lot of small games or mobile ports that probably aren’t worth a stores time. A lot of stuff has been digital only we didn’t even get resident evil as a physical copy over here

@Anti-Matter Some people might just do that, save some more money to buy the console they REALLY want.
However, if you have a child, you will probably not be approaching the situation the same way.
As a father with a 7 years old daughter I know the pressure when she comes to me asking for something. Sometimes I can do it, sometimes I cannot.
I was fortune enough to get the Switch for her (and for myself as I play it as well) because I wanted her to know the best of the best IPs in gaming (you know Mario & co.) but not everybody has the same option and opinion about a brand so these parents will certainly buy anything they can afford just to please their kids quickly and move on.

But I get what you saying about buyers remorse, the fact is that many don't care about it

@TheMadPolarBear I'd argue that trend started with the GameCube. In my secondary school anyone who openly admitted to owning one was derided. It was the only thing that the PS2/Xbox crowds could agree on.

@agramonte, doom, la noire, resident evil and bayonetta are not kiddie games and they are on the switch. Even the Wii u had some m rated games on there. Nintendo Is being diversified with the games. As for everybody else I guess Nintendo is to u.k. like Microsoft is to Japan.

I'm a UK Switch owner, and only know 2 other owners in person. I showed the Switch to my workmates right after release. They were all impressed but none intended to buy one despite most of them being gamers. Nintendo needs to make a big marketing effort if they want the Switch to hit it's stride in the UK.

@AlphaJaguar SAID: "The problem with Nintendo is that they still see the UK as the "European market".

ANSWER: The UK belongs in the European market, geographically, economically and historically.

@Mr_Pepperami I bought Lumo from GAME in the Manchester Arndale last week.

On a technical note (and my opinion), I really don't care about sales, as long as I play the console. Nintendo is nintendo, and always will be...they're geared towards children and families, and they've had the 'kid-console-only' title since the Super NES days...happened since they took out blood in Mortal Kombat. I thought they were trying to get out of it when BMX XXX was released on Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox...PS2 was the only one to tame that game, while the others kept everything in it...nudity included. I'll admit that I never cared for the Super NES or the N64, went with other companies, but the Wii will be a tough one for nintendo to break the records...Wii was a fast-selling console because it was something newer...granted that motion control-type-games have been around since the 80's in arcades, this was the first console to actually go all the way with it, and made it unique. Switch isn't really unique, except in the fact that it's two systems in one. If Switch got more of the M-rated titles, then it would be a candidate, but the cardboard items coming soon, isn't going to help it get out of the kids only system. It's kind of funny though, because Sony and Microsoft have enough kiddie games, and they never get blamed for it.

Anyways, back to the topic, the sales on the Switch in the UK is pretty good. Not sure what the XBONE is over there, but I'm sure it's doing better and selling more, and who really knows how the system will do for the end of 2018. This news is still relatively early to say it, should wait to see what the sales will be at the end of 2018, when the system is found in more spots and more games are released by companies who were waiting to see the sales.

@Cosats He means that the UK game market is not the same as the European one. Europe tends to favour PS4/Nintendo in Western Europe with PC being more popular in Eastern Europe.

Xbox on the other hand, doesn't fair as well in Europe compared to NA but has a strong presence in the UK. Nintendo has a stronger presence in Europe and other regions but this is not reflected in the UK.

Basically, the UK games market needs to be treated differently and Nintendo need to come up with a different strategy for the UK as a 'European' strategy has proven to be ineffective.

Here in the UK it a PlayStation country and always has been really... Ninty will always do crap here... If I asked 100 people what console they own I guarantee at least 75% would say PlayStation

@Anti-Matter i don't think it is they do not appreciate it. Just how it is perceived when they the majority out of a publisher.

My girl won't see the Cartoon Network but I'll pass in a cartoon on Netflix in between 2 "regular" movies and she will see it. It just can't be the focus.

You see a lineup of Nintendo Switch games in a store and it looks like the Cartoon Network. I do not think the Switch is for kids - it is just the perception it has and Nintendo can't really break it with most of what they make. Things like Metroid and publishers like Bethesda will.

Price compared to XB1/PS4 and the lack of a fully featured version of franchises like FIFA (FIFA 18 Switch had features missing like being able to play online with friends) and CoD are the Switch's biggest barriers to the UK market sadly.

This is the same country that thought playing games on cassettes was a good isdea in the 80s.

Switch sales were below 600,000 by the end of 2017, so sales in the last month were quite good.

@Dringo

So it does, thank you, to be fair I didn't actually click on the link, I just read the article on Nintendo life.

I don't think that's too bad of a comparison in that case seeing how popular Playstation is in the uk, I was expecting a much wider gap

LoL...this comment section is something else.

@TheMadPolarBear The entire country is in Arrested Development, huh?

@Cosats in addition to what @TheMadPolarBear said I’d add that our whole retail culture is very different here to that in Europe. Supermarkets are much more important here for non-food items than they are in (for instance) Germany where NoEs staff are mostly located.

If you treat the UK as if it were Germany you’ll miss that distinction and fail to understand why it’s so important to get the supermarkets onboard (instead of ticking them off like Nintendo did in the early Wii U days...).

A poweful Nintendo UK independent of NoE would have a lot more success. Or at least the potential to be more successful.

NIntendo needs to get the major UK supermarkets to sell the Switch.

They stocked Wii but then got badly burnt with the Wii U and got rid of Nintendo.

They stock both PS4 and XBone.

@readyletsgo Ireland is NOT part of the U.K.

Are you American perchance?

@Julien Visibility for the Switch is getting better here in the UK. Among the supermarkets, Sainsbury's, for some reason, is on board, and actually seems to give the Switch pretty much equal weighting. In fact, arguably the Switch is getting preferential treatment, since in at least two stores I've seen it get its own end-of-aisle placement, while Xbox and PlayStation are lumped together. Tesco is still completely Nintendo blind, though, which seems bizarre. Think it's only a matter of time before even it jumps on board, if the market keeps growing the way it has.

Not been in an Asda for years, but you can buy Nintendo stuff online through it, at least all the big first-party releases (and Fifa).

At the branch of GAME near where i live, you walk past and see a big green section, a big blue section and a small slither of red. Although that slither of red is centre front as you walk in. Sadly I can’t support that store as I can get the same games cheaper from Argos or Amazon.

But yep it’s Playstation country. Look at the never changing uk charts as proof.

@masterLEON Unfortunately, in that comment you’ve demonstrated a very clear and full understanding of the video game market here in UK..

@Julien Well, the UK is the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. So anyone who claimed that the entity of 'Ireland' either is or isn't in the UK would be incorrect. Northern Ireland is. The Republic of Ireland isn't. But neither of these constitute the entire... island of Ireland, making the question inherently flawed.

Switch has no shelf space in non specialist stores in my area. Supermarkets that stock PS4 and XB1 games dont stock switch at all. Where it is present its a single shelf and has a very 'betamax' feel to it.

@Marios-love-child It's done really, really well in the UK. But UK consumers are a bit more cautious when it comes to Nintendo, so it's just not broken records. But that doesn't mean it's done badly. It's done fantastically well.

@AlphaJaguar Yeah - well said. The UK office also has less than 100 people (and is situated far out of central London!)

What's wrong with you UK? What's wrong?

While others were playing absolute giants in the industry like Super Mario, Contra, Castlevania, Megaman you were playing computer games?

Why no love for Ninty there?

The U.K market will not make or break the overall Switch success,and Tesco supermarkets do not carry any Switch consoles or games.

Bit of non news in reality.

I’m in the UK and I have at least 4 friends who have picked up a Switch so far.

I live in a bubble where I think it’s going well, which is burst when I see how little shelf space Nintendo get in high street stores like Game. The depth of titles is usually better than expected though, thanks to the smaller boxes I’m sure. I’m pleasantly surprised to see more nieche titles like Axiom Verge or Stern Pinball in places like that.

Supermarkets do seem to give Nintendo a relitavely higher presence, not tucked in a corner.

Switch sales in the UK are actually similar to/the same as Switch sales in Germany, but the UK gaming market is the largest gaming market in the Europe, so relatively speaking, the Switch is doing better in Germany than in the UK despite similar hardware sales.

As a point of comparison, when the Wii reached 1 million units sold in the UK, it had sold less than 350,000 units in Germany. All the PlayStation and Xbox consoles have sold or are also selling better in the UK than in any other European territory, especially for the Xbox brand as nearly half of all Xbox 360s/Ones sold in Europe are sold in the UK. In fact, a major reason why the UK is Europe's biggest gaming market is because of how well the Xbox sells in the UK compared to its more niche status in other European countries.

The UK is pretty much the only relevant European territory where the Switch isn't breaking some sort of sales record, so that makes Switch sales in the UK seem disappointing, even though the actual numbers are quite good.

Uk gaming is all about voice chat and online and the switch just fs these two things up.

@Maxz Thanks Dad!

Joking aside, I’m sure you’ve educated a few Yanks with that explanation.

(And before anyone on the other side of the pond gets emotional, I lived in NY for over 7 years and am married to an American.)

Some of the reasons I have seen as to why the UK is less friendly to Nintendo than other European markets are pretty hilarious.

@Krull That’s great news. Didn’t realise that any of supermarkets are back on board. Neither of the big Sainsbury’s in London that I frequent (Angel and Chiswick) stock anything Nintendo other than a Pez sweet dispenser!

At least it's still selling well and has out-paced Wii U everywhere very quickly and all the sudden 100 mil lifetime sales say 3 years from now doesn't seem like an unattainable goal.

@Cosats But clearly, Nintendo needs to identify that their presence here hasn't been as successful as it has been in the US. Yeah, we're a smaller market, but even so, it's lost profit on Nintendo's part.

@RainbowGazelle From the same country that ubiquitously branded Tolkein's masterpiece trilogy that was an analogue of the industrial transformation of said country a "children's book".......not terribly surprising

@Julien lol, I'm Irish, in Ireland and I'm fully aware that Ireland is NOT part of the UK.

I ask, because we don't have charts in Ireland, for games at least, last I heard, so I always presume, since most of our shops here in Ireland are UK companies, that they include the sales from here as we would be a very small percentage wise.

It's never clear. That's why I ask every now and then.

Just get those GTA V and COD ports on it, and watch the UK sales explode.

@Dringo

Exactly my point. The comparison figures show just how well its sold

The article kind of suggests that 700,000 isn't alot but if the ps4 only did 300,000 more in the same time period I don't think that's too bad at all when you consider where Nintendo were after the Wii u disaster

I think my home country is inherently more cynical than the rest of the world. Comic book stores aren’t a thing here for example. People don’t like to admit childishness. Most youth and adult males seek “realism” and “grit” from their teens and upwards and won’t admit enjoying cartoons etc. I owned a GameCube as a mid teen and was in a VERY small minority at school. I kept that fact very quiet especially still playing Pokemon in the new millennium (red/blue were huge but after that I was “too old” for such things). The Wii was an exception until later in its life when I think Nintendo opinion reset with its stagnation. WiiU was nowhere to be seen here (except my house).
The Nintendo UK online store has been a revelation here because it’s very hard to source Nintendo gear in stores. GAME is the only dedicated gaming retailer, gives about 1/4 space of Xbox or PS4 sharing it with 3DS, and HMV has majorly stepped away from gaming. So it’s amazon, supermarkets or toy stores. Harry Potter being an exception to all this.
However, Disney and HP are huge here so the Toy Story “for kids... but adults too” vibe of odyssey and BoTW should be advertised heavily. Nostalgic ads like the Pokemon super bowl ad would help too.

@gordjscott It’s the same down here in the North of England, my Asda now also stock Wii U and 3DS games alongside the Switch! Crazy times.

@electrolite77 oh my I was clearly mis-informed about a lot of stuff regarding Nintendo handling other territories , I really hope they learned that.... #DontForgiveNintendo.... but all will be forgiven if they somehow get Square to localize DQX and DQXI

Switch will be a slow burner in the UK, it's starting to gather pace from what I've seen personally

Question.. what percentage of the total switch uk allocation is 700k? If the UK has only been allocated 700k units... then we did well 😁

if 3m units were available, then yes we need to up our game!!

It doesn't help with Xbox one s being available for next to nothing... for example.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/xbox-one-1tb-white-console-with-fifa-17-135-instore-tesco-rainham-2888925

In truth and either way the games sell the console and so far Nintendo are doing a sterling job with the switch.

@electrolite77 post #90. Great points. Great read

The UK is Playstation territory plain and simple

It's been that way since PS1

I don't fully understand it myself but something about the Playstation brand just resonates with the majority of British gamers

One of the major factors that's holding Nintendo back in the UK is that major retail outlets simply aren't supporting the Switch... when travelling around huge stores such as Asda, Sainsburys, Tesco & even some branches of Toys R Us don't have a Switch section at all... even a few of my local GAME stores barely have two tiny shelves allocated to the Switch. This is despite pretty good sales.

This leads to a simple issue - the fewer places you can buy a Switch, the slower sales will be and the less line of sight it will get. The UK is playing itself safe to death.

@MEGAMAN_D You're right, though I don't think the reason for Sony's domination is anything to do with "resonating" but more to do with class. Your friends have a Playstation... therefore you HAVE to have one. Unfortunately the "lemming factor" is far stronger in the UK than many other places in the World. It was kind of hilarious during the Vita launch... I pointed out how obvious it was that it would fail & that no one would really play CoD on the bus, yet the only response I'd get is "but Sony".

@gortsi I was going to but....this drought man. It’s the last year of the Wii x 100.

'Another country down'

@masterLEON and fortnite_ can’t forget what the kids are obsessed with now. Gaming in the UK is dreadful. The games my kids play are dreadful. It’s online first person shooters and Fifa. When my son and his friends play games here, they are literally in different rooms. 😂 they don’t have a clue what local co-op is.
My friend is coming round Saturday- we are setting up my Jaguar in the kitchen for beers and two player Badlands, Commando, Breakout 2000 and Llamatron.
I know what is more fun.
Sitting in a room on your own with a headset or actual human company. 🤔

Y'know I saw an article somewhere and from what we know from announcements from Different countries, only France has sold more than the UK in Europe. It's not doing anywhere near as bad as I thought.

France-over 900k
UK-over 700k
Germany-over 600k
Spain-over 300k
Italy-no exact number, better than Wii
Portugal-over 20k

@1UP_MARIO

Yeah I'm always disappointed with the shelf presence of Nintendo in shops and supermarkets.

I walked into a supermarket a few weeks ago and there were No Switch games to be seen although they only had a top 20 section of games divided between xbox + PS4.

I walked into GAME yesterdsy and now the Switch has a section shared with the DS line up the back of the shop and a best sellers section next to the till. I'd say the picture is improving here though. I know that PlayStation managed to sell 1 million Consoles in around the same time it's taken the Switch to sell 720,000 consoles so I wouldn't even actually call that a disappointing result.

@Marios-love-child PS4 sold around 1 million here in the same timeframe.

It’s frustrating in the uk that many big retailers don’t stock nintendo! It’s happened several times where I’ve nipped out from work to get the new Pokémon from sainsburies at lunch and there are only Xbox and PlayStation games! I went to three different stores that day before sucking up the rush hour traffic to battle my to game in town... nintendo definitly needs to work on that in the UK. Recently I’ll just preorder on amazon. Ah amazon prime / amazon prime now. So great yet so unenvironmentally friendly.

UK was never big on Nintendo overall to be honest, most of the scene was Sega.

@WiltonRoots see the comment above me for an example of peak idiocy. @Mart1ndo or maybe you're just cheap? And delusional as well.

@Mart1ndo oooh calm down tough boy, don't break that keyboard just yet!

@Mart1ndo no, the cheap part was referring to the "expensive" bit. The delusional was referring to "demand it dropping, no one cares, it's overpriced." Facts prove that your opinion is just that, a delusion. And lol at the reference to UK and Irish gamers, you know plenty here live in the UK and we know right?

@gortsi Actually I flew over Ireland just this morning on my way home to London, I could see the Surplus Switch Mountains from 37,000 feet.

@Mart1ndo I get the impression that's more your personal opinion rather than you confidently speaking for the entire British Isles, I see a lot of people singing the praises of games other than just Mario Odyssey.

You're bothered I imagine because you only see Mario as worthwhile, maybe it's one of those things where perhaps the machine was the wrong choice for you? If so maybe sell it on and move on rather than let it bother you? There won't be another Nintendo machine around for a few years now though...

Edit: A classic example was a friend of mine back in the day decided he wanted an Amiga and spent £399 on it, got it home and was very disappointed, returned it and got a Megadrive instead, he never looked back and he was a happy man.

@Mart1ndo nobody attacked you for your opinion, maybe next time you want to try not presenting your opinion as fact though.

@WiltonRoots I'll be in Bristol on Saturday, maybe I should do some "boots on the ground" research as to how many switch mountains are there so we can have a complete UK+Eire picture

@gortsi They're too busy spending all their money on scrumpy and pasties to think about Nintendo products...

@Kobeskillz yep we were playing incredible games from the likes of Jeff Minter.

Heh, just as the Switch is selling at a rapid pace, I'm finally hitting my stride as a Wii U owner.

@darthstuey I’m sure they were better than what the nes has to offer. Who needs Zelda! Mario 3!!! Megaman!!! Contra! Castlevania! Bible boble! Double dragon! Blades of steel! Ninja gaiden!

Ops I better stop. I only have an hour lunch.

@Kobeskillz well I had and still have an NES so I guess I’m in a position to be informed. Mario 3 one of the best games of all time without a doubt as are many others. However I’m guessing by your comments that you never owned a C64 and perhaps weren’t even alive when they were around.
These were around years before the NES came into existence and some of the games were and still are incredible. I suggest you do some research.
By the time the NES reached the UK we were hitting the age of the Atari ST and Amiga. Some of the games on those platforms are easily as good, if not better than those on the NES.
Monkey Island and Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atalanta spring to mind.
It was a very long time ago so my recall isn’t instant but I guess as it sounds you’ve never actually played any of these classic games then you know better.
I obviously bow to your superior knowledge.

@darthstuey yeah is crazy how those franchises are still around. Oh wait.

Look I’m sure they had nice games. But if you’re arguing that they compared to the absolute juggernauts spawned on the nes well.

Go for it. Die on that hill. Is admirable that one defends what they are nostalgic for though.

Do you also prefer 50 refresh over 60? Cause I’ve seen that defended as well. Lol.

Probably made some hard sections in contra 3 mmm I mean probotector easier to manage.

@Marios-love-child The article doesn't suggest 700,000 isn't a lot. It actually has the line: "That's a fantastic achievement in just 48 weeks on sale." It even says Nintendo is enjoying a renaissance in the UK.

The article seems to be trying to set the record straight on Switch in the UK. So many people, including on here, are calling out the UK for hating the platform. But clearly it doesn't. It is loving it. It's not quite breaking records - partially because of the competitive marketplace, maybe because of Brexit, partially because Nintendo doesn't have a strong UK base... but it's still doing hugely well.

So that's that. No, Nintendo isn't changing the world in the UK like it is in Italy/France/Spain/Japan/US... but it is still doing incredibly well. That's the fact of it all.

Hey, look, according to the same website, Nintendo was the best-selling games publisher in the UK last month.

@Kobeskillz I was never comparing them.
I think you’ll find Monkey Island franchise is still around.
I was pointing out there were excellent games on those platforms which you were just casting aside in your ill informed first comment.
You started comparing them in your reply.
But you are obviously right:
No one plays games like Elite, Doom or Lemmings anymore do they.

@Kobeskillz and I’ve got both contra 3 and Probotector on cartridge.