The Nintendo Switch Lite has had a relatively slow opening week in the UK; according to a report from GamesIndsutry.biz, around 13,500 units were sold.
For the sake of comparison, the Nintendo 2DS (a revised model of the 3DS which also offered stripped back features at a lower price point) sold 200,000 units in the region in just under two months. The significant difference in the launch prices for each console could explain this in part - the 2DS retailed for just £129.99 at launch, perhaps being more tempting than the Switch Lite's £199.99 price point - but it's far too early to cast any real judgement.
According to retailers who have spoken to GamesIndsutry.biz, the launch of Switch Lite isn't as significant as the months ahead. "Switch Lite was always going to come into its own come Pokémon. It's ideal as a Christmas present, and we expect sales to ratchet up during November and December", one retailer said. "Pre-orders for the special Pokémon Switch Lite have been strong."
It's a fair point, and we imagine the true success of Switch Lite will indeed be more clear after Christmas; the console has been propositioned as a cheaper alternative for a younger audience, so the November launch of Pokémon Sword and Shield should play into its hands.
Despite this slow start, Nintendo has had a surprisingly strong year in the UK. As anyone living in the UK will know, Nintendo is often overshadowed by PlayStation and Xbox in both the charts and in retail stores, but a total of seven Switch exclusives have reached number one this year, with Zelda: Link's Awakening being the most recent.
Are you one of the approximately 13,500 who bought a Switch Lite in the UK? Do you think it'll have a successful Christmas period? Share your thoughts with us below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 73
UK has never been a huge Nintendo mkt. us and Japan better indicators.
I see it as basically a Switch but you know...for kids.
I don't understand why anyone else would actively choose the Lite over the OG Switch as there are so many features missing and £80 savings can't make up for it.
No, the UK will not up this as we realize this is a cut down version of the original and because we are cynical are waiting for the drift to turn up. So are sticking with our original switches
I think it is a pricing problem. $200 is still a lot when your family could instead share a docking Switch, or other console. If they can hit $150 or lower, i think it would sell better as one per child.
I personally think the Switch lite is too expensive, it will do better during the lead up to Christmas. I'd really like a lowdown on how the different colours are selling, if I got one it would be the turquoise one and it needs a little price cut but that won't be yet.
2DS also launched alongside Pokemon X/Y, which is a much bigger deal than Links Awakening.
But yeah, the Switch Lite was always going to be a device that saw fairly low launch numbers but see a dramatic rise in sales during the November + December holiday (especially if it gets a Black Friday/Christmas bundle with Pokemon or Mario Kart).
@TheLightSpirit tbh that's kinda why the boost will likely be seen during the holidays as right now there's little reasons to get one(Japan might be seen as primarily handheld country but I feel in the west the appeal of the Switch is really as "an handheld you can plug into your TV" more than anything)**
**even moreso that the accessory for such is easy to use and part of the starting package unlike previous accessories like "super gameboy" cartridges, Gameboy Player accessory and disc on Gamecube or PSP's TV cable and the settings menu one needed to dive into among other things.
But the Lite can be a perfect holidays present for other members of one's household and thus come into it's own thing as secondary console of a household with multiple gamers/kids more than as a single person's primary console unless they're on a really tight budget(since others might still save up just a bit more to get the standard model instead especially with the new battery life as of last August).
I picked one up from Tesco with a family members staff discount so it only cost me £160 but I personally love the switch lite. It just feels better to play in handheld mode and the buttons are nicer compared to my normal switch. Also the screen is a bit better because of the smaller size.
@StephanDLW agreed as a handheld comparison the lite is way better imo
It'll be a popular machine among Pokémon players moving from the 3DS to the Switch, that's for sure.
@TheLightSpirit
@StephanDLW
I stand corrected. Fair play. I am glad there is this added option for you both.
100% anecdotal, but the 2DS I felt sold well in the UK more so because Nintendo had some good marketing at that point for the UK, heavily reliant on nostalgia.
My newsfeed at the time was filled with people who typically weren't buyers of Nintendo stuff (only ever posting about how they wish Pokemon was still a thing...) buying their new 2DS systems with the latest Pokemon where Nintendo went crazy with the nostalgia bait. Alongside bundles with games like Mario Kart, Luigi's Mansion, Zelda OoT/MM it was hitting a certain "nostalgia generation" pretty hard.
The Switch came off the back of that and again, a lot of people who didn't buy Nintendo stuff were hyped for the Switch.
Skip to today I don't see many of those people posting about Nintendo or on Nintendo related pages anymore. It seems for many the hype has died down as they've gotten their nostalgic fix. In that case, news of a Switch Lite probably hasn't even hit them and I doubt they would care anyway.
I would also throw Brexit into the mix as there's definitely people keeping their spending lower in preparation for the worst case scenario. The Switch sold quite well, a lot of potential customers already have the base version.
ALONGSIDE THAT, it's a downgrade in nigh every aspect other than the battery life (which the "new" models of the base Switch also improves on). A lot of people aren't going to go for an objectively inferior product. Many who only ever use it in handheld would likely still shell out the extra cash for the option of using it on the TV.
AND FURTHER STILL, Nintendo isn't advertised very will in UK stores. My local GAME has a small shelf with games, a small shelf with eShop cards/accessories/pre-orders and a small shelf with a bunch of Pokemon merch you can also easily find in any Tesco or ASDA. Meanwhile Xbox gets over a whole wall and PS4 gets half the shop.
It's the same in supermarkets, Nintendo getting space for like 5 games at the bottom whilst Xbox/PS4 has an entire shelf.
There's a lot of reasons I think the Switch lite won't do brilliantly in the UK but ultimately, Nintendo have always seemed to be pretty overshadowed in the UK...Even as far back as the Gamecube (when I first started buying games for myself) when again, they would have a small shelf at best whilst other consoles had half the shop.
@Kobeskillz the switch seems to change it a bit making the uk and different territories to be more Nintendo pro, but this true
Do we still need to setup a "main" Switch (this one can go offline) and all other Switches on that account need to be online all the time to validate licences?
If that's still the case, that means if I buy a Switch Lite to complement my current Switch (which the whole family plays), I would only be able to play my games on it when online? What's the point then, to have a strictly portable unit that won't work outside of your home wifi?
I could set my Switch Lite as my "main" Switch, but then again, that's just backwards.... as I suspect family members will then have issues playing games on their own profiles on my "non-main" Switch.. or does that work ok?
I think Nintendo only thought of the Switch Lite as something people not having a regular Switch would buy....
I'm interested in one, but not if I have to jump through stupid hoops to have it play my games outside of my home....
@EvaEeveeFan
What a load of tripe.
I'd like to think it's because the Brits have more sense than to buy a console that will inevitably drift. Once Nintendo sorts out that problem, then and only then will I entertain the idea of a Switch Lite.
Sales expected to rise at Christmas?
Bombshell.
"Nintendo Switch has sold around 1.9 million consoles in the UK since it launched on March 3, 2017"
So that is averaging a bit over 16,000K units a week for the past 116 weeks.
Or if you start at Feb 2018 where they had 700K (and 1 holiday in the mix)... you at 16.7K a week for the last 72 weeks (with 2nd holiday down).
Unless my math is way off (I went to art school so it can be 😅😉).
If the LITE averages 13,500/14,000 a week after 1 or 2 holiday seasons in the UK for Nintendo. It would have done its job🤔
well, as long as the regular Switch sales did not crash.
@EvaEeveeFan Nintendo have been smashing it in the UK with Switch!
@EvaEeveeFan I think the bigger problem is parents letting little kids play mature games, hearing what sounds like 10 year old over the microphone screaming and shouting gets very annoying.. But that's not even the main issue, every day i play online i see at least 1 person being extremely abusive with language and insults, and parents think it's okay to let little kids into that environment.. It breeds constant toxicity.
It's funny how parents think it's OK for their kid to see brutal gore and filthy language, but suddenly it's a no-no when a bit of nudity is involved.
Today's society is very weird indeed..
I'll be getting one, but I'm currently getting the whole "you don't need one" speech from my other half...
Life is a banquet.
@EvaEeveeFan pretty sure you’ll find most If not all European countries have either PS4 or XB1 as their most popular console as well.
The Lite will for the most part sell as a kids console globally, that will certainly apply in the UK
Soon or later the switch lite will be a idk honestly how to explain it..
@SBandy having just got one for my kid , I agree on that point. I had a quick fiddle with it before revising and wrapping it for gift mode. It feels really wonderful as a portable. The smaller size also helps, so for me, I want it as a daily driver, swapping out to my main switch for tv play.
@EvaEeveeFan
Well you have certainly shown that one person in the UK is stupid.
@KIRO
Yeah I am thinking my nephew would love one and it would keep him away from my original haha.
But a couple of other posters have also shown there are other valid reasons to pick it up over, or as well as, the original model. It is good to have the choice.
@EvaEeveeFan
No.
Wait.
Come back.
@SBandy Is EvaEeveeFan wrong though? I don't really think so. Throughout the last decade, we've seen close to zero innovation coming from both Sony and Microsoft in terms of software AND hardware. All they've done is stack on more power, and more graphics.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has been working a different angle, attempting to innovate games and gaming, and provide something NEW.
People praise games like The Last of Us and Spiderman, and yes, they've got some excellent points (TLoU story is strong, and Spiderman has solid gameplay), but in the end, are they "new"? Are they "innovative"? Do they provide anything that we haven't seen before?
No. Because why would they? The same old same old sells well, so why innovate?
In my opinion, Sony/Microsoft aren't bad companies with bad consoles and bad games. They just don't really show me anything I haven't seen before. Nintendo does that.
So while the "Xbox/Sony wouldn't exist" is a bit extreme, I can see the point in that if people actually appreciated innovation and didn't want to just play every game the exact same way as they've always done, there would certainly be a major shift.
Wait until the holiday spending ramps up. This plus Pokemon is a lurking cash cow.
@Agramonte
Surely you must know that sales during the holidays are much higher than sales outside of the holidays...?
November + December typically accounts for 45 to 55% of all hardware sales sold throughout the year.
@EvaEeveeFan While Sbandy was a bit extreme, I don't think he meant any harm. On the other hand, you were also a bit extreme in terms of opinion, anyway.
Also, something I often see is that people tend to assume everyone else knows about their situation. We don't, sadly. Thus, it becomes harder to distinguish between animosity and extraordinary bluntness caused by internal conditions.
Nobody who doesn't know you has any idea that you are autistic. Of course that doesn't make it okay to call you names or anything, but this is the internet, and people feel 3 times bigger here than anywhere else, because there are rarely consequences (and @Sbandy I'm not taking potshots at you, I've probably been much much worse at times with people I don't know).
Sometimes you just gotta take a step back, @EvaEeveeFan, and assess the situation. It's not easy, especially if you're battling with the type of autism I think you are, but remember: They don't know you, and you don't know them. If people start becoming personal, maybe just reply that such animosity isn't really the best way forward for either of you, and maybe you could either agree to disagree or try to find common ground.
@Blizzia
I don't want innovations from my playstation. I want more power and all the opportunities that come with that. I have my Nintendo consoles for innovation.
And the PS4 has provided me with some of the best games this gen such as Last of Us Remastered, Uncharted 4 and God of War along with great third party games.
Evaeveefan just slagged off all the people who don't own a Nintendo whilst also apparently calling everyone in the UK stupid as a whole. They have no credibility and therefore their ranting can not be taken seriously.
@SBandy Well, I guess we'll agree to disagree on the playstation thing. I dumped my playstation exactly because they're doing nothing new, and Uncharted 4, God of War and TLoU (R), amongst others, are just reskins of the same old gameplay I've seen since late PS2 era where they stopped bothering to innovate in playstation games.
More power doesn't matter if they keep making boring gameplay that remains exactly the same as always. Sure, it looks much better now than it used to, but I've been there, done that.
It is simply not a quality experience for me. Storywise, things are good, but that's simply not enough to carry the experience. I'm not watching a movie, I'm playing a game.
Regarding EvaEeveeFan, I think that's just how blunt she is everywhere, as it is probably how she communicates. Sure, she should reflect on her own language and actions, but you're not much better in that respect at this very moment.
@Blizzia
I am perfectly content with my comments to Evaeveefan. 16 comments that poster has made since joining on sunday and most of it is insulting people of the UK. I haven't got time for that and I am not buying the act.
Back to your point, that is exactly why PS4 should exist as well as Switch so I can play games like Doom at 60fps rather than 30fps because it undeniably improves the experience. The main thing is choice. You are bored of the games on PS4 but you got Switch so all good, I still enjoy games on PS4 as well as my Switch and get the best of both worlds.
@EvaEeveeFan heres a tip buddy if there being mean just don't listen to them or well look at what they say sense we can speak we just type lol so yea don't look what they type if there mean to you I wish you luck.
@EvaEeveeFan
Just put me on ignore. I won't take offence.
And maybe try to stop slagging all the people of the UK off yeah?
@EvaEeveeFan plus hey i have autism also and I know alot about fights so yea Im in no one side i just want this to be peace..
@EvaEeveeFan
No just my mates and family.
It's not really surprising, it's a bit of a pointless version.
Take into account also not sorted drifting out...I have a lite sat here since Saturday but not opened it...heard about drifting on these so will return it...don’t want be a victim of it at all
To think I’ve owned all Ninty handhelds and all quality and now they starting to go cheap on us...shame Nintendo,,,you know the problem and won’t fix but still expect sales
The Switch lite is just that a smaller Switch that doesn't connect to the TV. Surely you can see it wouldn't sell millions in its first few days in a region still dominated by "home consoles" (XBOX ONE, PS4 and the OG Switch) also there was a Switch revision recently that has better battery life than the Lite in handheld mode, but is also playable on TV.
Here in the Netherlands I've seen that one selling faster than the Lite. And I think it was a mistake on Nintendo's side to release those so close to each other.
@westman98 It would be the same as the 1.9 mill total for the regular Switch, that also includes holidays. There is a month it sells 14K and one sells 2k ... you get +% of an uptick in holiday. But if you set it flat, 16K will get you at the same result in the same time. LITE just needs to hit ballpark +holidays and it is amazing for Nintendo.
I hope we get different colors like orange, green, and red. Or bundles like a Mario maker 2, or a Mario odyssey one. Like they did with the Wii u
They should have released it in November
The switch lite will do just fine come the holiday season. My other half is gonna be grabbing the pokemon edition and I'm waiting to see if we get an animal crossing one next year. That's when the lite will really shine
At the end of the day it another 13500 switch owners. Why separate the 2 units. It’s more switch owners. That’s the reality.
“We expect sales to pick up during the time of the year that sales always pick up”
@jarvismp there are key things the Lite can’t do, so it makes sense to keep the two as separately tracked units. For example if the Switch Lite were to become the stronger system it wouldn’t make sense for Nintendo to keep making games that rely on detachable joy-cons such as Labo, Mario Party or Ring Fit Adventure. But if the regular Switch remains the popular unit then they’ll want to keep focussing there.
Also they’ll be looking at which audiences the two units lean towards. For example, there would be no point making a Witcher 3 Switch Lite bundle if the audience for that device is younger and more casual, they’ll want to make that bundle with the standard one.
And shops will want to know which version to stock etc. It’s really important to know which unit is doing better to several parties. That’s the reality.
@StephanDLW Lol massive down voting on your comment for no apparent reason. People are as poor now in some areas as they were in the great depression. I guess some don't understand this.
@Moon My partner has been wanting a Switch but not enough to pay £270 for, so she asked if I could put in and she'd get a Switch Lite she had seen on an advert. I said I'd rather we put in for a second hand full Switch and she can borrow my SN30 Pro +, because of the drift.
Seems people really don't want to admit that a Switch that doesn't Switch really is a serious downgrade.
@EvaEeveeFan
I don't think us British are stupid, people tend to follow the crowd and play what they think is cool and most popular, if it's not popular or deemed as strange then we will be mocked, me and my partner like pokemon, play almost every Jrpg and watch anime and yet I get mocked at work for it because its "different",
I have to disagree with xbox/sony not existing though, people need variety and ps4 offers high graphical games with intense gameplay whilst others may prefer Nintendo with great Rpgs and Nintendo exclusives, it just all boils down to preferences and people following the crowd I guess.
You can get a used switch on eBay for £200 maybe less if you don't want the Dock
@EvaEeveeFan That comment was a bit stereotypical and has offended a few users. Can you refrain from generalising all people in one country as "stupid" in the future please? Thanks!
@StephanDLW Yes, I'm aware of these issues. Both things would be helped by more self-sustainable living... But I was just saying, dude.
@EvaEeveeFan I had this conversation with another about the UK. I live here and always bring up gaming in conversation. I notice that yes, many bought the ps4 (the popular console choice this gen) for 3 or so games (Fifa, CoD, some F1 Racer and sometimes GTA), but they also supplied games for their young children on that console, they don't often let very young kids play the games they do. These would be upper lower class, middle class (more often higher class have less interest in gaming, so the children will buy the consoles themselves with pocket change, mostly same game choices). Also, though, it is thanks to those that bought the ps4 that have kids ,they bought the Switch for their children when it became the trend. These cases make up MANY of the sales in the UK, which the Wii U didn't really have. Wii u had hardcore Nintendo fans for the most part.
@EvaEeveeFan
Just to be clear, I still think you are an idiot. Huff all you want but you have a nasty attitude and I am not falling for your little act. Do one.
@EvaEeveeFan
You are the creep here bud. You started the abuse and I am calling you out on it.
I asked you to stop but you continued. You are a disgrace. Jog on.
@EvaEeveeFan
I don't care what you think. You have shown yourself to be a generalising rude idiot. You are a disgrace.
@EvaEeveeFan
Also it should be pretty clear to all now that this poster is a troll and probably has more than one account like the saddo they are.
@TheLightSpirit
Because everyone always tell the truth online right?
The poster in question had been insulting the people of the UK and those who happened to like Xbox and Playstation and as soon as they get a blow back they are an autistic girl. Quite frankly
I don't buy it.
I tried to let it go actually and also offered them a way out but they continued their rhetoric today so I called them out again. Don't be a sucker.
@TheLightSpirit
No the poster in question said they were an autistic girl as soon as someone finally called them on their offensive comments.
Why believe them?
@EvaEeveeFan
Everything I have sent has been here for all to see, you make it sound like I have personally messaged you. Anyone falling for your act is an idiot.
@EvaEeveeFan Well, I play Nintendo mostly as well as Xbox from time to time and I don't believe I am "ill-informed", "stupid" or a "chav" so if we could just tone down the abusive comments that would be appreciated.
@EvaEeveeFan I'm not "dogpiling" on you - I have simply asked that you don't make stereotypical comments that can be seen as offensive.
@Matthew010
That poster is a troll. I would just ignore them from now on.
@EvaEeveeFan
"They are hardly going to be offensive."
"Most Xbox/PlayStation users can barely read anyway".
Stop posting offensive remarks - this is the last time.
@EvaEeveeFan Agreeable from a fellow autistic girl. i would feel attacked too lol.
@EvaEeveeFan it's okay you shouldn't have to change anything for others and I understand what you are trying to get at. I hope you don't let the comments get to you and that you have an amazing day.
Thank you! And I hope you can forgive them im sure that although they said some impolite words they really didn't mean any harm.
Personally in xenoblade 2 one of my favourite things to do was opening core crystals, at first it was pretty boring , but when i discovered that you could tell by the dust shape what type of blade it would be, it really made the openings more interesting as i quickly learned how to differentiate between special and the normal boring ones.
@EvaEeveeFan @Mimikyu_is_Best
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Location
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"Mimikyu_is_Best Sat, 3:22am
@EvaEeveeFan Agreeable from a fellow autistic girl. i would feel attacked too lol."
Nothing fishy here at all lmao
Believe what you will I just saw the comments and wanted to make an actual account so I could reply and ask if she was okay.
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