Nintendo President Believes Switch Can Meet Sales Goal Before End Of Fiscal Year

He knows the latest Switch figures, or at least has a decent idea, so he is the one to know whether or not Nintendo has a chance in reaching 20 million console sales. Time will tell.

Amazing insight... I can see now why he was chosen to be Nintendos president...

"Do you think the Switch can shift enough units for Nintendo to reach its financial year goal by next March?"

I believe Nintendo can do it.
But before that, Nintendo SHOULD sell the 32 GB cartridges to developers and no more excuses from lazy developers to not put their games on the right size cartridges.
Final Fantasy games on Nintendo Switch, that means they need enough space to be fit in 1 cartridge (32 GB at least).
By putting the games on the right size cartridge, it will also help the games sold better than Partial Download games.

@Anti-Matter I'm over here thinking, why the heck would Nintendo be selling 32 Game Boy cartridges? 🤔 😂

Maybe if they had big 3rd pary games like Re2 and kingdom hearts 3. They don't have anything but another wii u port next month.

@Daldra
Hmm let's see. 2019 has:

Luigi's Mansion 3
Untitled Animal Crossing
Untitled Main Pokemon Game
Travis Strikes Back
Bayonetta 3 (possibly)
Metroid Prime 4 (possibly)
Yoshi's Crafted World
New Super Mario U Deluxe (some people will buy it, bear with me)
Daemon X Machina
Fire Emblem 3 Houses

Third Party:
Mortal Kombat 11
Doom Eternal
BlazBlue Centralfiction
Team Sonic Racing
Ace Attorney Trilogy
Final Fantasy 7, 9, 10/10-2HD, 12, and Crystal Chronicles
Resident Evil 1, 4, and Zero
Crash Racing HD
Shin Megami Tensei V (hopefully)

And tons more that I haven't listed.

The Switch will do just fine. It doesn't need EVERY third party game, because the ones it does get will be enough to shock and surprise the masses. It'll do well, I know it.

For most of the year I'd thought this goal was nearly impossible, especially with Nintendo's fairly meager first party output this year. Then the holiday season comes around, and Smash Ultimate and Pokemon Let's Go have both sold ludicrously well--even better than I'd expected them to, and I'd already thought they'd be huge blockbusters--so those sales numbers don't really sound unreachable anymore to me. If they can manage to release one more big first party game before the end of the fiscal year, I think they can reach that goal just fine.

Only five comments for the nonsense to start, not bad but could do better. Not really fussed about sale figures but glad it’s doing well and looking strong for the future.

@KingdomHeartsFan
The ones marked "(possibly)" have no confirmed release date. But I imagine they will considering Nintendo's timing. All the others are guaranteed for 2019.

Kingdom Hearts would be a good fit for the Switch. It's is a shame that we won't see the likes but surely it's not all down to the size of cartridges supplied by Nintendo.

Since Nintendo expects an 11% increase from last year, (17.79 million to 20 million) assuming NSW sells at the same rate from January to March with an 11% increase, Nintendo should be at about 35 million by now if they expect to reach their current target.

@Mrtoad
Nintendo shipped 15.05 million Switch units last fiscal year (April 2017 - March 2018).

Nintendo needs to increase Switch shipments by 33% year-over-year. It will be difficult as Furukawa has said, but recent Switch sales during Black Friday/Christmas have been absolutely massive, particularly outside of Japan, so it is certainly possible.

@westman98 Thanks for correcting me, should have remembered to remove the 2.74 that came from the Switch’s first month (and from another fiscal year!)

@Daldra I don't think the switch would come close to running red dead 2, besides it doesn't even have anywhere near enough memory to just hold it. The switch is cool, but it's still not even close to being as powerful as Xbox or Playstation.

@Skyman19 Nobody said Rdr2 is possible on switch, he was talking about resident evil 2.

@Daldra
"Nintendo will only succeed if they have all the 3rd parties" hasn't been true for 2+ decades. Nintendo's entire handheld business, the Wii, and Switch prove it.

In regards to the Switch, Furukawa said again how Nintendo was aiming to shift 20 million Switch consoles by the end of the financial year in March 2019. He thinks the goal is within reach and noted how the success of the new Smash Bros. game and holiday period would help drive sales.

Even if Furukawa knows Nintendo won't meet the goal, it's all about selling the idea. If they admit to perceived doom & gloom, those statements can still have a negative impact on selling the switch (even if the sales are stellar). So until we see numbers we can't know if this is just a show of confidence, or their christmas / black friday strategy (especially with the slightly reduced Mario Kart bundle on Christmas shelves) played out. Though since I got my Switch during a Black Friday sale, together with some games and seeing people carry out the Switch (and other consoles) by the dozen in our more rural town I believe Nintendo can meet the goal...

Isn’t this another case of “What did you expect him to say?”

Of course he’s gonna say they’re on track. If he showed anything else but confidence Nintendo’s stock would probably drop 5%.

If I’m keeping up correctly, Nintendo still needs to shift 7 million units between now and March. I just don’t see that happening without another huge release.

There is no way the President of a company could say otherwise. If he did, he'd be shooting himself in the foot. No matter what he might actually believe.

I am a pretty die hard Switch fan, but I will be surprised if it hits this goal. Smash is a smash hit! (Pun fully intended) but is it the smash hit of 2018 on the system. There were other good games with good sales, but none were major system sellers. Not really. Pokemon moved some units, but not as many as it could have, had it been a real Pokemon game.

I expect they will fall short by about 1-2 million. I hope they meet their goal, but my money isn't on it.

@Anti-Matter devs have acces to the 32gb carts since day one.

I mean devs already ask switch tax for 16gb cartridges, I'm fine with that tenner above but please no more, the only solution to this is if Nintendo makes them cheaper even if making a small loss (I remember Sony selling the PS3 with a huge loss because in the end the games will make profit that covers it and it did).

Devs can't use the 32gb cart because they would need to make physical copies even more expensive, people would complain and thus not buy the game.

It's nintendo their turn here.

It could but then again January and February may be a slow month. Even if they didn't met their goal, Switch is still selling very well regardless.

They'll probably reach at least 15M for the fiscal year, which correct me if I'm wrong, would be about the same as 2017. Even if they don't hit the goal, the Switch will still be doing well and 2019 looks very bright.

I wonder how their total sales are since launch?

@Heavyarms55
I think they might barely skate by... maybe. Let’s look at what we know. We know that in FY1, Switch sold 17m and change. We also know Switch is outpacing FY1. Not by much but it is outpacing it, largely thanks to the addition of Jan, Feb and 3 weeks of March that were not included in FY1. We can therefore conclude Switch should at least match the 17m of FY1. It comes down to how much it outpaces FY1 by. The first 2 quarters of this year really hurt Switch in its goal for 20m. At the very least it will do 15m. That much is certain. 17.5 is a safe bet though, since that would only require matching the previous year and by all reports, it is outpacing it. If they can pull some magic out of the air and push at the tape during Q4 with NSMBU Deluxe... it might just skate by the skin of its teeth. Even if they don’t though. Eh. So they sell 18m instead of 20m. I don’t think that’s really going to make a difference either way. Even if they just did 15m. That’s still really good and I expect the following year to be much stronger, so...

@Daldra
If you are under the impression that Switch needs every single major 3rd party game to succeed, I’m afraid you are sorely mistaken good sir (see 3DS sales, Wii sales, and Switch sales- all of which were missing the vast swathes, if not ALL, major third-party games, and yet have broken all manner of sales records... and that, good sir, is what egg on your face feels like)

And that “Wii U port” is a brand new game to the masses... the same masses who buy major 3rd party games. In case you didn’t get the memo, Mario is one of the biggest selling franchises in the industry. NSMBU Deluxe will sell more Switches than Kingdom Hearts will sell PS4’s or Xbox’s. In fact, Kingdom Hearts only sells 1-4 million historically. New Super Mario Bros U sold more than that on the Wii U. It will certainly surpass those sales on Switch.

That aside, Switch is getting Tales of Vesperia in January, one of the better JRPGs ever created, as well as No More Heroes. Not every game every month has to be some mega-blockbuster that sells 5 million copies. Every single game has an audience. Every single game draws in a few new players. Over time, that adds up. On top of the fact existing games continue to sell systems for years and years.

Switch is a different kind of system, and thus will not have the same type of library as a power home console. That means there are going to be a great number of games that it does not get. But that’s OK. Because those aren’t the only games that people care about. The ones it gets certainly does help, without question. Diablo 3 sold Switches. Skyrim sold Switches. Civilization VI sold Switches. Every game helps. But it has enough amazing games to sell just fine as is. And the fact it’s the ONLY system that can provide hybrid functionality to consumers means that missing a few demanding games won’t even remotely affect sales, not unless a competitor hybrid releases that does have those games... and Sony bowed out of the handheld market so that’s not happening anytime in the next decade...

@Rayquaza2510
"Devs can't use the 32gb cart because they would need to make physical copies even more expensive."

I just wonder how big are FF XII the Zodiac Age & FF X/X-2 HD on Nintendo Switch after being compressed ?
FF X/X-2 HD PS4 version = 31.9 GB
FF XII The Zodiac Age = 41 GB
Are that size can be compressed into 16 GB ?

@JR150 Don't forget A Hat in Time, which I never thought I would get the opportunity to play until now that it's coming to Switch!

@ItsOKToBeOK I expect it to be more in line with 4/5 missing in the last quarter. Last year switch sold almost 8M in the 3rd quarter therefore I would expect to sell more than that this time around (10M+)

At this point, they probably have a pretty good idea on whether they will or not with the "Holiday" quarter finishing up today. October-December were going to be the "make it or break it" months for reaching the 20 million goal as Jan-March are usually slower months riding the momentum coattails of the Holiday season. Still, it'll be a good month till the next investor meeting and we get solid numbers. The headlines throughout this season have been rather positive so whatever the numbers are I'm sure they'll be good. Still, reach the goal or not the Switch's second year is looking rather successful and sould help cement the Switch as one of Nintendo's successful consoles.

@Anti-Matter looking at the PS4 version doesn't make sense, those versions will always be bigger.

FF X/X-2 is 23gb on PS3 so switch will be that or less.

FF Zodiac Age is a different story, but looking at Diablo 3 on PS4 vs Switch would make it possible to fit Zodiac Age on a 16gb card just like Diablo 3.

Sure I prefer them using 32gb ones with less compression but I'm pretty sure Zodiac Age ends up or fully on a 16gb cart or 8/16gb cart with download and with FF X/X-2 I see square enix doing the same joke like with the Vita and X will be on a cart and X-2 a download on the switch.

@Daldra
Why do people keep banging on about big 3rd party titles. Nobody is running out to buy a switch to play RE2.

@Adbee runs to the shop to buy a switch to play RE Revelations 2

runs back to the shop to buy a memory card because the game doesn't fit on the switch

Jokes aside I get your point, looking at myself I bought the Switch because of the upcoming Pokémon game, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate

I bought Smash for the Wii U and the 3DS. I am skipping it in the switch for now. Switch has way to many indie games that I need to play before I tackle smash.

I know 3 people who bought a Switch this month specifically to play Smash, 2 of whom said all of last year they would never buy one.

@ItsOKToBeOK If Japan sales keep up, that's 1 mill a month from just one country. I can see the target being met. Love your profile pic btw. Only discovered one punch man last October and proceeded to binge watch the entire series.

@Rayquaza2510
Lol People are going to buy a PS4 or an Xbox if they want to play the latest 3rd party games. Nintendo are not trying to compete in that market.

@JaxonH Valid points. I still think they will come up just shy of that goal, but I don't think it's impossible, unlikely but not impossible. And really, that stated goal isn't gonna make or break them. It would just be their stocks dropping a bit, to come back up again next year. With many huge titles lined up next year, I suspect they will be doing very well. Metroid, Animal Crossing, and Fire Emblem are all pretty huge names. Just to name a few of the expected big hitters next year. Oh and a REAL Pokemon game too.

Like the president of Nintendo COULD SAY : "Yeah, we know that we're screwed with the target and to be honest, we knew it already from the start" LOL

Furukawa-san knows that weaboos like me buy uncensored anime games like hot cakes. Sony is going to lose Japan soon because of their recent policies.

Almost every child I'm related to got a Switch for Christmas, except for three, who got phones instead

Yes, the Pres. needs to keep up appearances, but he also needs to preserve his credibility.

Saying 20 mill. is within reach when they're way off damages his credibility and the company's. Nintendo tends to play the long game when it comes to business and the company's reputation, so I don't see them BS-ing us for a very short-term gain that would be long-term damaging.

If figures were disappointing he wouldn't have made a statement about them at this time as he didn't need to.

Popped into my local GAME store yesterday in and in the 5 minutes I was there 2 families bought a switch with another umming and ahing.

The dad did say to the young on 'youre not having Splatoon coz we aren't paying for online membership'... Then bought Smash and Mario Kart 🙈

Nintendo are admirably transparent. If the President says it's doable, then it's doable. Very brave (and ambitious) to set such a high target. If they hit it, it would be quite the accomplishment. if they just miss it, then it served it's purpose as a target. I think we are past the point already of it being disappointing lol.

@Scottwood101

Same, popped into Game to buy the Pro Controller and heard the staff telling customers that the red and blue joycon console was sold out along with the Pokeball Plus.

It’s possible. The future will tell us

If the President of Nintendo already knows that they will miss the target he has to tell his shareholders. He can't go out and tell the world they are still on track.
Otherwise he would be breaking the law.
So if he says that they are still on track and can reach that goal he is telling the truth and is not saying that to appease shareholders.

I have a switch and the 3 main games of last year, Zelda, mk8 and odyssey, but there is nothing else out there for me so far and judging from the thousands of used switches selling on eBay, I am not alone. It's a good initial purchase but it soon wears thin.

@USWITCH64 Yeah, as with all things there’s always gonna be some disappointed customers, but also a lot of satisfied ones. While you only seem to enjoy three games on the system, I got over 40 enjoyable titles in my collection already and most people I know who owns a Switch are glad they bought one.

On topic: Would be cool if they reached their goal, but almost reaching it is impressive in itself. Either way it’s a great console and it has reinvigorated my interest in home console gaming, at the same time as it has a top position in my handheld collection.

@Quarth it's good that you are enjoying the switch but of the 3 games I own I have 2 of them on the WIIU which I play a lot more of and I have to say my SNES and N64 get a lot more use than the Switch. Hopefully there will be games in the future that I can get into as I'm not selling it.

I believe they will do it!
The only problem is that January-March quarter have nothing big that will move units over than the New super Mario Bros U deluxe, which is a 2012 so idk how many people will buy a switch for that....
There is the Travis strike again in January and fitness Boxing in February but both aren’t much of a system sellers as well....
They count heavily on Smash and Pokémon let’s go with the enforcement of SMBUD to keep on moving high numbers of units
But when we will get the info on how many Switch have been sold as of today (31/12/18) we will know better

@Daldra,

In reality this would make very little difference.

So either they're really close or they believe January - March will be big due to NSMBU Deluxe and Direct announcements.

@electrolite77 Totally agree on NSMBUDX. 2D Mario games frequently outsell their 3D counterparts. Now, I don’t think NSMBUDX will outsell Odyssey, but, considering DKTF has done so well on Switch, NSMBUDX should be a huge seller.

Also, to the people saying that he can’t suggest that they won’t make it, don’t forget that it wasn’t too long ago that he seemed somwhat skeptical that Nintendo would reach the goal.

Battle toads reboot would put this over the top.

I'll be honest: while I never say never, I was skeptical that Nintendo would shift 20 million units this fiscal year. After how well the Switch has been doing this holiday season, that goal is appearing to be more and more feasible.

Time will tell, I suppose.

This is a great comment thread on the subject of Switch console sales numbers for the year ending March 31, 2019. You guys are knowledgeable and intelligent and polite. That's rare for the internet!

I guess we'll see. But well done if it does.

@electrolite77 yeah!
With the 2 million Mario party sold
And the above 5 million Pokémon let go
And the crazy, probably above 10 million seller SSBU
And the probably above (potentially much above) 5 million seller NSMBUD next month

Nintendo on the roll to their 100,000,000 software goal

Well of course the CEO is gonna say that they'll meet the goal. Investors would be none to happy if he was like, "Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to make it, guys."

Nintendo could surprise us with some great first party releases for February and March.

We have to see what the final tally is for the holiday season. Once we get those numbers in January, then it'll be fairly predictable to see if Nintendo will hit the number they want. If they don't hit it, I think they'll at least get reasonably close.

@electrolite77
I think NSMBU DX will have a fairly slow launch TBH (KH3 and RE2 Remake should both comfortably sell more copies in January 2019), but it should have very strong legs as the NSMB series always does.

@Cobalt,

You would think he would not have even brought it up if Nintendo were miles away from their target.

@electrolite77,

Without a doubt,as I have said many times momentum is key with these things and the Switch is on a roll.

@johnvboy You know, PR talks is a norm today... :/

To trust blindly a CEO today it's like to be convinced that the Earth is flat... (Wink to @Electrolite77) ^^

@Cobalt,

The console is selling well PR talk or not.

@electrolite77 I hope so
What I meant is that over than NSMBUD they have nothing to rap the fiscal year, and although I won’t be surprised if they are over the 15 million so far with this huge last quarter, they still probably need a finishing blow, and with KH3 and RE2 remake, idk if NSMBUD port will be enough

@johnvboy In Japan...

In the US it's less than Sony but still kind of good but in Europe, it's not that great at all... Not a disaster... but not that good...

@Cobalt

Not sure if you are trolling or being serious?.

Apparently outselling the Wii U in less than a year in the UK isn’t great. Nor is being the fastest selling Nintendo console in Spain and Italy. Nor is being the fastest selling console in France.

@JR150 You're delusional. My comment was referring to games releasing before march, not 2019 as a whole.

@Cobalt You are right that Nintendo gets a high percentage of Switch’s sold from Japan compared to Sony with the PS4 (22 percent vs. less than 10 percent), but this is common with Nintendo consoles (For example 31% of 3DS sales came from Japan and 24% of Wii U sales came from Japan)

@johnvboy I'm deadly serious...
@Mrtoad Yep ! ^^

@electrolite77 this discussion on if the switch is successful or not should have ended on day one, when we saw Zelda BOTW lol
Anyway the switch already the fastest selling console of the generation
The switch already have 4 games that surpass the 10 million copies (Mario, mario kart, and Zelda. I also count smash since it will obviously be there by the end of January, if it didn’t happen so far) ( which is probably already happened) (Pokémon let’s go have a shot to.... eventually, but idk)
And we have at least 2-3 games that will do it next year (Pokémon and Animal crossing for sure, and NSMBUD has a shot to, traditionally 2d Mario games sales way over 10, and many people are going crazy over Toddet/Peachet bowser version lol+ even on the Wii U with it’s bad install base, this game sold 5 million, which is very impressive on the Wii U)

Although it’s above 80 million install base, The ps4 have currently 7 games that reach that feat, and only 1 of them is an exclusive (uncharted for ps4)
The Xbox one, actually doesn’t have even one game the did it (the best selling game there is GTA5, which sold “only” 8 million copies)

So no doubt the switch is a successful console, both in terms of hardware sales, software sales and especially, exclusives!

But 20 million is a hard target for any console
Anyway I believe in Nintendo that they will make it

@Cobalt
Not sure where you are getting any of your numbers, but Switch sales have been massive in both the US and Europe. There are several European territories where Switch sales have nearly doubled PS4 sales during the 2-3 weeks preceding Christmas.

In fact, Japan is the only region where Switch sales haven't grown by 50%+ over last year's sales.

@Cobalt Wait for December NPD stats...

My guess is they won’t quite make it, but it’ll be close. Smash seems to be doing even better than most people expected - and those expectations were high to begin with.

@Cobalt,

Then you are in denial about the whole situation,and just like the previous poster "Gaterboi" who always had the same negative opinions,but at least he had the sense not to post when his predictions of Switch sales dropping off a cliff did not come true.

It's always better to under-estimate.

@BenGrimm,

Or pretty much everywhere else,people do not like to see Nintendo do well,even more so when it's a more casual product,as the big boys may copy it...and that would be the death of the games industry as we know it,well at least in their eyes.

@Shadowmask,

This in itself would be quite a feat,as quite a lot of people from the internet posting and YouTube minorities thought they would be miles away,as the console as no games..yawn.

Of course they mean no games they wanted or felt entitled to.

@Shadowmask,

I honestly think he just comes on with a counter opinion just to get a reaction and wind people up.

Or he is just sore that the Wii U did not have the same reception the Switch is getting,of course liking the Wii U is a safe bet as the console did not do that well,and would never threaten his beloved Microsoft or Sony console.

@westman98,

And you have to factor in the fact the console is pretty much being sold at full price and has not been out for two years yet.

Both the Ps4 and Xbox One are very cheap with great deals on offer.

@electrolite77,

There is no debate only irrational ramblings from the usual doom and gloom merchants.

Most of the analysts consistently discounted the previous Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima’s projection (March 2018) of 20-million- units, this became even more evident during the slow period (mid-summer) leading up to the holidays. One VG analyst for Wedbush stated that Nintendo would sell only 8-million-units for the entire financial year.

It now appears (obviously) that Nintendo will get close to that 20-million-unit mark in fiscal year-end March 2019, but this original projection perhaps aided in the slowing of their stock price during this period. Perhaps the executives should back off on specific future unit quantities for the good of the shareholders?

I've got a number of friends who wouldn't have dared to dream of picking up a Wii U despite owing a Wii, who have gone on to buy a Switch this Xmas. And it's always the same; hype + Mario Kart, Smash, etc = a sale.

I've got them asking for my friend code to play MK8, but I have no interest in playing it as I've been playing it for the last four and a half years...

@Heavyarms55
Pokemon Let's Go was definitely a major system seller.

200,000 Switches were sold during the week of its release in Japan alone, and Japan is the one region where the game has somewhat underperformed compared to previous mainline Pokemon games.

Switch is doing great, some moan about third party support. But that isn’t why u buy a Nintendo system. Nintendo 1st party stuff is what makes them shine, go buy a PS4 and have the best of both worlds.

@johnvboy
It’s just so weird I don’t get it. If people don’t like something then fair enough but you can’t change the facts to suit your opinion.

If it wasn't for the 'Nindies' scene the Switch would be on its arse right now. I'm not complaining because I believe a lot of the indie games have outshined some of the majors this year. I honestly think the same is going to happen in 2019 too.

And on that note; Happy New Year!

@JR150 don't forget marvel ultimate alliance 3

Loving the good Nintendo nees

It’s ironic that the person comparing other users to flat earthers, is the closest to being one himself.

@Jack_Goetz,

Without a doubt the indie titles have helped,they have meant the Switch has a steady stream of software available,this is not so good in the eyes of the more hardcore audience but will be great for the wider market,of course to a lot of these players the games will be brand new.

I have always said the Switch is pretty much a companion console for the core market who like me will probably own an additional console.

I do however see the first and third party software numbers going up this year,Nintendo do need the bigger titles to maintain momentum and they have been pretty much playing catch up since launch,the third parties are a slightly different matter as a lot of games would have been well into development before the Switch was even announced/ released,and of course you can't really blame developers after the Wii U for being a little cautious,but with the Switch having around 30-35 million units of hardware in only 2 years has to make an impact on their decisions.

@johnvboy Nintendo put their effort in 2017 because if the system would have sell bad during lunch year, it might never sell, so we got Zelda, Mario, splatoon and other big names
2018 had few other big names (but much smaller) to join the party since let’s be real, games take time to make so they can’t release so many every year, that’s why we got like 5 Wii U ports added to the 5 brand new. That gave us something to play while allowing Nintendo to not rush games
Meanwhile, the 3rd party and indies came into play, creating new games and porting their old staff into the switch library. In the end we got Pokémon let’s go and smash, that prepare us to what will happened in 2019.
After 2017 and 2018 prepared the ground, creating big install base and getting back the 3rd party trust, 2019 will be the year when Nintendo go full Mewtwo mode and strike back (lol), with so many major releases and much stronger 3rd party support
That’s how I see it anyway

The real question is why do actual gamers care about this? This is stuff for investors. We have great games and more coming. That is what matters.

@JR150 are those RE games the same ones on PS4 from 2 years ago?

@Trajan
Not everyone owns a PS4. Myself included. These games will be brand new experiences for a lot of people. RE4 in particular is a classic that was regarded as the last good RE game before 7 came out after all.

That guy looks like the star of a Japanese version of the movie Big.

@Anti-Matter,

Developers can be lazy imho,just look at Zelda breath of the wild all that vast game is on a cartridge with no trouble at all and it only uses 13.4 GB.

A lot of modern developers do not try to compress data because they are working with 50 GB Blu-ray discs so there is not much need to do so.

@Tantani,

I could not agree more as any console needs a good start,not saying it's impossible to recover like the 3DS did,but still momentum is important as having consoles out in the wild can be the best form of advertising.

@johnvboy yeah
The 3ds is different
It came after 2 very successful consoles (DS and Wii), and had all the ds library ready at lunch, people just waited for a reason to upgrade

The switch came after the Wii U was a failure, so the switch had to ether explode or fail
A mediocre start will doom it imo
Gladly, it’s sales explode and keep on going up

"The people who’ve played Smash before are coming back for this one"
I'm not, thanks to your disgusting and offensive subscription.
I hope that I'm not the only one.
I want to see Nintendo games sold for extremely cheap prices on Steam now.
Nintendo need to get humble as that if they want to see my money again
And they should be humbled like that, they deserve it.
I have bought Disney afternoon collection a few days ago on Steam and Duck tales 2 is much better even than Super Mario Bros 3, a game that I am not even allowed to buy anymore.
Well there are better things I am still allowed to buy.

@LuckyLand,

Your own buying choices can't be indicative of the whole market,and it's a tad of an overreaction to call this comment "disgusting and offensive" imho.

The success of Smash will be in part fans of the series that will have bought previous entries in the series.

@johnvboy Do you know what is a texture ? ^^

Duh, Zelda Breath of the Wild has a lower size/weight than a 3rd party AAA... LOL

There are some genius here...

@johnvboy the subscription is disgusting and offensive. Not this comment.
But honestly, that subscription was so bad and unforgivable imo that everything that came after it can be called disgusting and offensive.
Seeing Nintendo advertisements on tv now makes me angry and frustratred.
I will not be able to trust any console anymore and it's thanks to Nintendo and their scam.

@Cobalt,

Don't be a fool fella,I never said that Zelda was as good looking as the top AAA multi platform titles,but the fact remains Nintendo are very good at compression.

You can't be much of a genius yourself as you keep getting the Switch's sales numbers mixed up with the Wii U's.

@JR150 nor do I. I was just curious.

I got RE4 for free on GC recently. Couldn't get past that horde of Spaniards in the beginning. Hard game.

@LuckyLand it is definitely not a scam as they are not selling you something different than they advertised. It is simple not worthy in your opinion and that is absolutely fine

@Balta666 I bought the Switch at launch and they didn't explained back then that they wanted to prevent you from manually keep your save files backups and to buy Virtual console retrogames because they wanted to abuse of those functions to convince single player only games to pay the subscription too. They waited at least one year to explain that. The OS was very bare-bones back then so it was legitimate to believe that the saves backup (manual offline backup I mean) would have been released in an update. I thought so at first. I would have never believed that they tried something so sordid and vile to force their subscription even on customers that are not interested in multiplayer.
It is a scam because they are trying to force it on everybody and they are purposely making their console worse than it could be to do so.
That's what makes it a scam.

Even if they don't hit the Target-what they have shown is they can make sales and go head to head with other so called power consoles. That should tell more.

@LuckyLand that's a lame excuse it's been out since March 2017 and you didn't at least do your homework? Your hatin is showing alot. If you don't want it sell it and don't use Nintendo then.

@LuckyLand ""The people who’ve played Smash before are coming back for this one"
FYI, those whom never played SSB are playing this as well so your lack of diversity here clearly shows you have no clue here either.

@LuckyLand "I'm not, thanks to your disgusting and offensive subscription.
I hope that I'm not the only one."
You think everything is free just because you want it that is what is called whiners.

@LuckyLand "I want to see Nintendo games sold for extremely cheap prices on Steam now.
Nintendo need to get humble as that if they want to see my money again"
Man this is what a TROLL is really like. Maybe if you can do better let's see you do it. Love how we have couch quarterback thinking they know better when they obviously have no clue.

@LuckyLand "And they should be humbled like that, they deserve it."
Clearly a Troll here.

@LuckyLand "I have bought Disney afternoon collection a few days ago on Steam and Duck tales 2 is much better even than Super Mario Bros 3, a game that I am not even allowed to buy anymore."
Yeah try as they may to grab for any straws to do their own revisionist of failed steam games. Yeah that makes you real smart ..NOT.

@LuckyLand "Well there are better things I am still allowed to buy."
Steam better try to get out more maybe seeing a more diverse life might add more sunshine to your life there.

@LuckyLand I have the system since day one and I have not subscribed to the online service as I am like you single player focus. Don't you think you are exaggerating just a bit?

@SwitchForce Im not a troll I'm only a person who want to pay only once to BUY the things I want and then use those things as I wish all by myself
The only things I am a hater of are subscriptions, and if I hate Nintendo now is only becausew actually I would love their games but I hate the abusive way they made them available to the customers.
They treat customers almost as slaves.
I don't let them disrespect me that way even if that means that I must leave their games behind and play with something else.
I loved what they create but I'm not going to let them mistreat me like that to play their games.
I am not a troll, you are someone who can't understand what is more convenient to yourself and when a company is disrespecting you stealing more money from you than they should be allowed to.

@LuckyLand

You describe the situation with admirable accuracy.
+1 on that. ^^

@LuckyLand I think you're exaggerating with your conspiracy theories...

@SwitchForce Your realize his statement "The people who’ve played Smash before are coming back for this one" is what the president of Nintendo said and was quoted on in this article.

Nintendo will survive without your whiteknighting.

@LuckyLand dude man get a reality check and cut your internet fantasy out. Or better yet get off the internet that isn't helping you to be a diverse person. Sounds like you're looking for misleading information to fit your closed world views here.

@Cobalt,

You didn't get a famous quotes book for Christmas did you?

Have a think about this one fella.

" Never argue with an idiot,all they will do is bring you down to their level and beat you with experience"

It will and I'm glad the big n is back

@Cobalt,

"As I remember, the last time somebody used that sentence was a stupid SJW of 15/16 years old in my neighborhood... :/"

With you fella he probably had a good reason to.

@johnvboy

Thanks to confirm your level with that answer of you... Great job mate.

From what I can gather, it looks like Switch sell-through in Q4 2018 went something like this:
> Japan: ~1.7 million
> Americas: ~4.0 to ~4.5 million
> Europe + ROTW: ~3.5 to ~4.0 million
Total: ~9.2 to ~10.2 million

Q4 2018 Switch shipments should comfortably top 10 million units at a bare minimum as it doesn't seem like Switch hardware is completely selling out anywhere across the globe.

If Nintendo does miss their 20 million unit fiscal year target, it won't be by much - probably by ~1 million units at most.

Still hard to imagine, even with the massive holiday sales.

@Cobalt,

In fairness you also never fail to deliver with your ludicrous posts either.

@Shellcore One Punch Man isn't done yet. Season 2 comes out this year!

First months of 2018 were like dead period for Nintendo Switch games. I don't see anything major scheduled for Q1 2019 so they expect Smash, Pokemon and 2017 evergreen titles to drive sales for next three months. If there's no price drop planned for next month its not possible to reach 20 m

That's a tall order. Don't think they'll quite get there

@Cobalt

Cool story but changes nothing regarding what I said or the article? Plus one of those sales was me as I’m the owner of a nice shiny red Spider-Man PS4 PRO. Only one fanboy here and it’s certainly not me.

@Cobalt,

Hardly a surprise the Ps4 does so well in the U.K as Sony have always done well there,the fact the Switch has also had an impact is even more impressive imho,as Nintendo have been struggling in the region for a while now.

@Cobalt Not sure why you tagged me? I never disputed that the PS4 was doing better in the UK than the Switch.