Joining the many juicy nuggets of information revealed by the recent financial briefing, Nintendo has shared graphical sales representations of the Switch's evergreen titles, showing just how strong and important these sales are to the company.
The first chart shows the combined sell-through for Splatoon 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe across Japan, the US, and Europe. These four titles top the list of the best-selling games seen on the console so far, and as you can see from the chart below, their sales have maintained an amazingly solid level of consistency over the last few months.
Elsewhere, a second chart has been released which compares the console attach rate for the same four evergreen titles. The two different sections show the attach rate (how many copies of the game have been purchased in relation to the number of consoles sold) at different points of the year, firstly in January 2018 and then in September. As you can see, despite shifting another 6 million consoles between those two dates, there was no significant change in the attach rate, suggesting that these games are selling at a similar pace to the console itself.
Not only is this information particularly interesting, but it's also a real eye-opener. Major first-party Nintendo titles hardly ever see a reduction in price at retail, with games in franchises such as Super Mario and Pokémon often staying at full price years after release, and it can often be confusing when many other titles benefit from sales and discounts. The answer to that conundrum is obvious, though; why would Nintendo discount its games when they continue to sell at full price for years on end?
Even today, almost seven years after release, Mario Kart 7 often finds itself sitting in the top 40 charts each week, and it was just revealed that the ten-year-old Mario Kart Wii shifted another 40,000 copies in the last quarter.
As always, feel free to share your opinions on this information in the comments below.
[source nintendo.co.jp]
Comments 45
Well, great job Nintendo.
Hopefully Animal Crossing Switch will oversell Mario Odyssey next year and be a new Switch Evergreen.
Is this the reason we can’t have folders? Folders doesn’t help to sell more , so why bother???
The console attach rate is impressive. I guess by the end of its life it will be lower, but usually in the best-selling games list you can easily see that even the best-sellers are bought for less than 50% of the people who owns the system. Way less.
The essential games every switch owner has or will come to get
People love their Mario Kart! They were so smart to salvage it.
Evergreen yet 2 of them don't have DLC, hopefully that changes soon.
"Console sell-through approximately 18 million units as of september 2018" and 22.86 million Switches shipped as of 30th september 2018 according to Nintendo themselves.
Does this mean that more than 4 million Switches are sitting in shops around the globe?
Maybe we will get a true successor to the 3DS after all.
@SenseiDje Of course you can have folders. Just go to your local office supplies store.
But seriously, having folders on the Switch would be nice.
can someone explain (other than trees) what "Evergreen" is pertaining to games ???
@jhewitt3476 That they continue to sell well long after their release. Also, many plants are evergreen, not just trees.
And that's why those games almost never go on sale
@jhewitt3476 the term is used to indicate those games that, instead of having huge sales numbers in the first 2 weeks and then none (usually ending up being a lot cheaper in a matter of months), continuously sell throughout the months and years.
It could be pretty much summed as: any AAA on PS and XBox VS. Nintendo’s first party games.
@clvr This is exactly right, but I think it's important to point out that AAA titles on PS/XB always enjoy enormous price cuts to stimulate their sales. Nintendo pretty much never cuts the price on their AAA titles. So it's comparable to an extent, but actually it's quite unique too!
@shgamer It should be less than 4 million. The 18 million sell through only includes the US, Europe and Japan. The 22 million shipment number should include the rest of Asia and South America.
Based on that, there probably will be 2 to 3 million on shelves, which isn't that weird as they would be shipping for the launch of Super Mario Party and as preparation for the holidays.
@justin233
the first part about the game and term, thank you, but the part about correcting me.......don't be an Botany Nazi, it's rude.
wait, I'm sorry, "Botany" is too general a term, let me put a finer point on it with "Arboriculture", (trees and bushes, shrubs, ect.) do forgive me.
@jhewitt3476 Hey - I studied horticulture. Don’t hold it against me. I wasn’t trying to be rude at all, just informing the uninformed.
@nocdaes yep, that’s exactly what I meant, though I realize I worded it a bit confusingly 😅
This chart also shows why Switch sales are struggling this year.
EVERY great game came out last year!
It has been a slow, slow year for the Switch from Nintendo, and I don't see it turning around.
Smash will be fun, but why hasn't there been DLC for MK8 for the Switch? No tracks in years!
Why wasn't there more meaningful DLC for Odyssey? or additional content for Zelda? (since Zelda is usually a once every 5 years game that used to have handheld releases in-between the lack of the inbetween games for GBA/DS/3DS means it'll be a long-time for a new one)
I love my Switch, and I LOVE the indie games, where I've spent most of this year.
So don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan from day 1, but Year 2 of the Switch has been super lackluster from Nintendo, and that is why they won't hit their sales. They lost momentum, and unless Metroid 4 is crazy amazing AND coming out in the first half of next year, AND there is something else big coming soon, Nintendo already fired all their big ammo, it's already all been released, and now we just wait for the next console release that will have the next Mario Kart, Zelda, Mario & Splatoon games...
...sadface...
@jhewitt3476 jeez dude calm down! You asked a question and he gave you the answer, teaching you something in the process; you should be grateful instead of triggered. You were rude, not him.
I asked for edification on the gaming reference of "Evergreen", not being corrected
@DrkBndr Ok, had not noticed it was for US/Europe/Japan only.
@jhewitt3476 you see that’s the problem with people nowadays, they get offended for nothing.
You should have just been grateful for the reply and shut up, instead you even went on to call him “rude” and “a Nazi”. Ridiculous.
@clvr
I don't like grammar or spelling Nazi's either, it's a quirk, if no one asks to be corrected don't correct them, it's not your job
"I don't like grammar or spelling Nazis either. It's a quirk. If no one asks to be corrected, don't correct them. It's not your job."
Fixed that for you. You're welcome.
@jhewitt3476
“I don’t like grammar or spelling Nazis either. It’s a quirk. If no one asks to be corrected, don’t correct them. It’s not your job.”
Corrected.
@Hirsbrunner Dude - you beat me by seconds. 😂 Haha
@justin233
maybe you not such a bad buy, and i have been having rough day in the lab, probably was running a little hotter than usual.....
Friends ???
I'm sure Smash will be similar.
@justin233 @Hirsbrunner 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@cyrus_zuo I think from a mass market perspective Pokémon and Animal Crossing will shift mega units. They’re huge evergreen titles.
From a core gamers perspective we know that the best teams at Nintendo are working on new projects. Hopefully even new IP.
I think 2019 and 2020 will be two of the biggest years Nintendo has ever had.
I'll definitely be picking up three of the four; I'll likely end up trying the fourth (Splatoon 2) at some point.
@cyrus_zuo Where on earth have you seen that the Nintendo Switch is struggling this year? Next thing, you'll try to convince us that the sky is green with pink dots.
I like deciduous games. Why be bothered with good gameplay perpetually?!
@cyrus_zuo I agree and said much the same thing yesterday. After doing so much right last year, Nintendo have followed it up poorly. I do think they will make up for it next year though,software wise anyway.
Daemon X Machina, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, Yoshi, Pokémon, hopefully Bayonetta 3 and MP4. Perhaps we may even finally get a game from Retro. Those comments from the president about needing to release more games gives me hope next year will be packed with Nintendo titles. However I do think the hype around the console itself is lost and I'm not sure they can get that back. It's the first 6 months of this year than done the damage in my opinion.
@OorWullie For the mass market, releasing WiiU games was releasing all new Nintendo games. I don't think that hurt console image or momentum outside the core fans that owned a WiiU. For the mass market every month had a major Nintendo game through June. For WiiU owners, it was just a big rerun until Octopath and Tennis.
I think what hurt the console momentum was that there wasn't a viral push on it and there were massive pushes from Sony with GoW and Spider-man, and big 3rd parties like Rockstar that distracted the industry. Plus talk of new generation consoles which always puts spending on pause. WiiU owners are the last group to please. We bought WiiU's, got shafted, and still bought Switches. They have us in the bag. It's everyone other than us they have to please to ensure Switch isn't a WiiU rerun. The rereleases were a great way of doing that.
@OorWullie I think the problem was the Smash focus before September. Too much focus on it gives the image it's the only worthwhile 2018 game owning meanwhile the September Direct felt more like E3 than E3 did.
@Tulio517 Mario, zelda, Mario kart, Splatoon go on sale at $44 all the time if you in the US
Check Target, Walmart and Amazon. They rotate them out.
Looks like Splatoon2, Mario O and MK are at $44 now.
@Agramonte agree, i see them on sale here in Holland often too but never are these titles structurally lowered in price as you often see with other games.
I am still surprised that MK8 is selling this well. I guess less people own a Wii U than I thought.
I love Nintendo
@Grumblevolcano
I'd love to see more tracks/characters released for MK8!
@OorWullie
I do think the first 6 months of this year slowed momentum, although personally it was a fairly notable period for releases- with Bayonetta 2, DKC Tropical Freeze and Mario Tennis Aces. Wasn't a fan of Kirby though.
Still, I don't think momentum has been "lost" as in forever. Momentum comes and goes depending on the lineup at any given time. Momentum certainly slowed this year, without question, but it still looks like they're on track for 15 mil, which is honestly still pretty respectable. 4-5 mil up til the 4th quarter, 7 mil over the holidays, and another 3 mil for Jan - March. Which is more in line of what I was expecting this entire time.
I never believed they were going to hit 20 million. At the same time, even 15 mil is still plenty of momentum, and it will notch up to 11 with Pokémon, Diablo 3, Smash Bros and NSMBU rolling right into January (a wise choice to keep momentum during a notoriously slow month ). What they do with it from there, I'm not sure. But if Daemon X Machina, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Yoshi, Tales of Vesperia and Final Fantasy X or XII all drop in the early winter months to spring, with a Direct or e3 showcasing titles like Bayonetta 3, Metroid Prime 4, SMTV, Dragon Quest XI and Builders 2, Pokémon, Animal Crossing, DOOM Eternal and Wolfenstein Youngblood (finally day and date AAA games built ground up with Switch in mind during development, and ports of previously exclusive games) I'm thinking we're going to see a second wind like the first year. Heaping gobs and gobs of ports of top shelf titles and multiplats to fill the gaps should also help.
At the very least, it should maintain the status quo of 15 mil a year. Which is about on par with 3DS during its early years. Maybe not record breaking but certainly enough to keep the system lively with games rolling in. And at the end of the day, as long as it selling well enough, and perhaps even more importantly, software is selling well enough, developers should remain interested in making games for the platform.
@JaxonH I agree with you that the momentum is not killed (unless the next quarter shows sales below 7M) and that the next year apears to be really good in terms of first party (and let's see if third parties had enough time to get their hands in new games for switch) however I will say that is very unlikely that metroid or bayonetta will be released next year. First because they say tba on the official list of games and also because they already have two massive games for the summer/holidays with animal crossing and Pokémon
@Moroboshi876 In a way this might confirm my impression. 2018 was a "lukewarm" year in terms of "must-have" releases but at the same time... the "evergreen" releases of 2017 were still often more than a valid enough argument even for some people getting the Switch only in 2018.
Smash Bros might be releasing this december, but I can bet that Mario Odyssey and Zelda will be continuing to sell more copies this holidays alongside new console purchases. The only thing with Smash Bros releasing this holiday is it being more likely to be purchased alongside a new Switch console than last year's holidays-released Xenoblade Chronicles would have.
@Balta666
Ya, I'm not sure they'll release next holiday season or not, but at the very least if they can showcase them at E3, it should garner enough excitement as people look toward a tangible release.
I figure Bayonetta 3 and Metroid Prime are late 2019 or 2020 titles. So it's possible they get shown next year. If not then they'll definitely be shown the following year, likely at e3 (and maybe even a release that same year). Metroid Prime 4 shouldn't be later than that, because a 2021 release would be in the console's 5th year on the market. And I just don't see it being that far down the line. Next year or the year after sounds right.
Best of all, we have a really great lineup for next year and the year hasn't even started yet. There are going to be so many games releasing next year that haven't even been announced, especially as third parties who started development after the Switch proved itself at the end of 2017 start wrapping up those titles they started working on. We saw a massive influx of third-party support this year as compared to last year. And I'm pretty confident we're going to see an even larger influx next year.
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