Nintendo Switch Sales Surpass 61 Million, Equalling The Mighty NES

I really hope they can use this opportunity to explore their lesser-known franchises. There's already a massive install base and new weekly owners of the Switch. Half of my friends own one and the other half want one and most of them don't even play video games.

This is a perfect opportunity to invest into franchises that can bring this newfound fanbase under their wings. I'm thinking Kid Icarus, Endless Ocean, Eternal Darkness, Fatal Frame, etc. Nintendo has an unlimited amount of IP's and essentially even resources, it'd be nice to see these series return in a new light.

What's exciting about this news is that the Switch attracted this audience with true games, they weren't focused on the blue ocean unlimited revenue titles of the past but brought us very core experiences. I'd be the first to argue that the term "hardcore games" is stupid, but I'm glad they've learned from their Wii/Wii U years that in order to maintain attention you need to output high quality, not Wii Music.

People who still think the switch is going to fall of a cliff are nuts.
The first time I saw the switch it immediately ''clicked''.

Switch will be here for the long run. And hopefully Nintendo can improve their game output soon.
I personally am praying for a proper DK64 sequel for years now. So much potential if they implement less backtracking.

@Kabloop

There was also less competition, not just from other gaming companies but from other forms of entertainment including widespread internet access, which just wasn't available to most households.

Plus, the NES was supported for literally 10 years, the Switch has had less than 4

It's absolutely insane that Switch already surpassed the total software sales of the 3DS in just 3 years by far.

And I have to see here and in the internet that Switch will get ***** by PS5 and Series X and that Nintendo need to be cautious around it when the console, games already available and price will do it already.

5.67 million units shipped in Apr-Jun 2020 is the biggest non-holiday quarter ever for Switch. By comparison, it "only" shipped 4.89 million units in Jun-Sep 2019, which included the launch of the Switch Lite. The last time Nintendo shipped this much hardware during a non-holiday quarter was the Nintendo DS in Jun-Sep 2009.

Similarly, 50.43 million units of software shipped in Apr-Jun 2020 is the biggest-non-holiday quarter of software sales ever for any Nintendo platform. Neither the NDS nor Wii saw software shipments exceed 50 million during a non-holiday quarter.

Even if you ignore Animal Crossing's numbers, that's still nearly 40 million units of software shipped in Apr-Jun 2020, which is comparable to the non-holiday quarter software sales of the NDS and Wii at their peak.

Don’t take your foot off the gas, Nintendo!

It's still selling extremely well, I'm sure the PS5 release and Xbox Series X will slightly lower sales with the increased competition but I still think Switch will continue to sell strongly for at least another 18 months...
It's in Nintendo's hands to keep the Switch train rolling....

@ryancraddock as it’s hybrid, you should factor in the Game Boy and DS lines too...

@Varkster

Nintendo has a fairly limited amount of development resources / studios and you can't just pluck talent out of the air. There is a limit to the number of employees / skills available in the professional game development community. Some of the franchises you mention won't be big sellers in comparison to other franchises.

They way they probably look at it is what is the potential return on investment for a product with a buget of say $10 million USA. If franchise A is more much popular than B or C then that's the project that's going to get the green light as it will deliver higher profits.

Smaller franchises could be profitable if the development is relatively quick and can be kept within a smaller budget. But working on a smaller title might not be the best use of that particular staff group's time if a more profitable project is on the table.

I keep seeing youtubers/reddit/twitter posters claim that without a Direct nintendo has no games... I wonder why they're breaking records then if there's nothing to play.

Best console ever made deserves to be top of the list. It's here to stay (6 more years! 6 more years!) so I reckon it's going to do it.

@MaxPereja @Kaboop and in NES days videogames was a toy for children. Now days many adults buy videogames for themselves if you're thinking in market share, NES is a real champion, but Switch have have a new appeal to front more costumers to Nintendo environment

@korosanbo Nintendo reportedly co-owns the Fatal Frame IP in North America thanks to localising it, which is why the last Fatal Frame was and stayed Wii U exclusive.

Going to make a bold prediction and say that the Switch might outsell the PS2.

A lot of those software sales are Wii U ports,and yet Wii U is in last place.

And this is the reason why all Wii U games are getting ported, in case anybody didn't realize already.

@cheesedude I disagree, Nintendo has worked on smaller projects in the past, hell, even new IP's. Following this logic we would be seeing nothing but Mario and Animal Crossing for the past 5 years but of course this wasn't the case.

When a fanbase of a console is this large it's wise to invest in more niche franchises as in the long run, it will attract a bigger audience and attract new fans as well as outsiders attracted to said niche. It's always worth it, from a business standpoint, to invest in amassing long-term appeal for every single owned IP, otherwise Nintendo would have long since sold them off.

I see your point about potential revenue but you're thinking on a very short-term approach. Nintendo is a long-term business and something that may seem obvious to us may not be benifitial to them in the end.

As for the amount of staff and resources, Nintendo is very well off in that regard. The amount of first and second party studios under Nintendo's flag is enormous, the only fault with what I said is that Nintendo seems to have a very high quality standard for hiring new developers. Usually they hire people with a lot of past experience for their bigger studios.

This is all my take, at the very least.

@Varkster F-Zero!!!!!

Think so, but do think the rumored switch pro will be needed in the future to achieve this. As if within the next year or two the switch two gets announced then it will never overtake the wii

Notice that the top 4 successful Nintendo home consoles were the only four that had mainline Dragon Quest RPGs (Dragon Quest X, an MMORPG not counted) released for em. The N64, GameCube, and Wii U had no mainline DQ RPGs.

@Varkster

I agree that smaller franchises are definitely required to round their game selection and offer consumers a variety of genres. But at the end of the day the big sellers are the big sellers. We will generally see per console releases of Mario Kart, Smash etc. but it can be decades between smaller franchise releases because they generally are not as profitable. It's like how EA only releases blockbuster games - they are only interested in earning mega bucks from massive games as a service rather than investing in a wide range of smaller titles.

I definitely disagree that Nintendo has lots ofdevelopment resources as otherwise 2020 would have far more games being released rather than a comparative drought. But that's just my take and you see it differently. It's a big company but game development involves hundreds or thousands of staff over a long period of time.

I'm not sure how much the next gen will effect the Switch in the future.

1. The Switch is its own thing, it's occupying the home console market as well as the serious portable gaming market, which Nintendo has owned since the Gameboy.
2. People dont seem as interested in next gen like they usually are. Late PS4/XBONE games still look amazing.
3. Nintendo can just do a "Pro" version if sales lag or easily do a price drop.

Excellent hardware wise but damn Those software sales are really impressive

Also I always know when Nintendo's got a hit console by which of my mates buy one as some have very limited interest in gaming and most or big AAA heads.
Everyone of them has a switch or is currently planning to buy one it's like wii all over again

everything they do is way to slow. spend some money. the online drip service is diabolical as well. Mind you the company my wife works for she has the japan office under her and always complains about them being slow and still sending faxes to each other.

Very impressive, imagine how high the numbers would be for 2020 if Nintendo actually released some games?

@hadrian
These results should brush away any concerns of PS5/XSX "killing off" the Switch when they launch.

Seems a bit odd to compare a handheld to home console sales, but well done regardless, I guess. Nintendo definitely have another hit games console on their hands!

And they still literally can't get consoles out quickly enough to meet demand. It's essentially been sold out (in terms of regularly finding units on sale in shops) in the UK since late December.

Stock arrives, stock goes. Same for Ring Fit Adventure, even Animal Crossing can be tricky to buy sometimes.

On store shelves for several more years yet? After this holiday when it's exposed as nothing but a pathetic tablet without 4K and ray tracing? What are you guys smoking?😜

Seriously, though, I can imagine Switch having at least 2-3 more years of similar hardware sales in the borderline hybrid market monopoly it has built itself, so Wii numbers don't seem all that far-fetched. This time without people buying it as a mere "Wii Fit machine", too... albeit possibly with others buying it as a hardware client for ACNH social network.

@RainbowGazelle Because it's both a handheld and a home console, that much should be obvious.

What a beast, I can see it hitting or even surpassing wii.
I love this system, very happy for Nintendo

@Nourldean a home and portable console. People find inexplicable satisfaction in stubborn ignorance of the fact that "handheld" is but a THIRD of Switch's job description.

But then again, people also keep shortening "smartphones" to just "phones", although the GSM module probably sees the least use among smartphone owners nowadays.😆

@Kabloop

You are a right Debbie Downer aren't you?

With the pandemic delaying a lot of 'unannounced' games this could work in Nintendo's favour.

Once PS5/X is out they will get the limelight but if Nintendo has a killer 2021 with loads of games releasing, akin to 2017 Launch year, we will all be happy and it will keep the sales of hardware going.

I still hope that after Pikmin 3 we get a big Xmas release this year. They might be holding off the rumoured Mario Collection to be released in same month as PS5/X once their release dates are announced.

@ZeldaNX,

Same here, the console looked as cool as hell, and was always going to reach a wider audience than the Wii U did, basically everything the Wii U should have been.

The console has so much momentum now, Nintendo could release nothing but ports this year and it would still sell out, only hope Nintendo can sort the stock shortages out and take advantage of the huge demand for the system.

Could you include the Nintendo Handhelds for a more accurate sales landscape? It being a Hybrid, it would be nice to compare to Gameboy, 3DS, DS etc. And the aim could/should be DS sales? As the next gen approaches Switch will be the handheld of the household. It was a good strategy.

@nhSnork,

Wii numbers at this point are inevitable, just how far can it go?

Next targets: 3DS and GBA

Remember Switch is a handheld too, guys XD

@KoopaTheQuick,

Exactly, it's got to the point of diminishing returns as far as graphics are concerned, outside of the core hobby gamers nobody even notices.

If you want to compare Switch sales to the home consoles, don’t we have to strip out the Switch Lite numbers?

@retro_player_77 That's because Square Enix (Enix) only put DQ on successful consoles in JP

@Rob3008 2020 is not over yet, Nintendo may had some heavy hitter saved for the holiday.

I can still picture myself laugh at a colleague's face when I received my Switch on day one and he said "that console belongs in a museum, it will probably be Nintendo's last console ever and will fail just like the Wii U or the Dreamcast".

Although I really wish Nintendo had acquired Rare when they had a chance so they could revive IPs and create awesome sequels to the N64 era

@RainbowGazelle What makes you think it's a handheld? You could basically sync up to 8 controllers with it to enjoy couch co-op or local multiplayer. A dedicated handheld can't do that, heck even the PS4 couldn't do that.

@Rhaoulos I remember the day when the Switch was reveal, every fat YouTubers were complaining about the HD Rumble motion control and how the system will likely fail. Three years later and they still believe the Switch will fail even though sales of the console kept rising.

All but NES and Switch consoles have had counterpart platforms in the same generation, to represent both home and portable systems. So it would be fairer if we count sales of both devices in appropriate gen, like SNES + GameBoy, N64 + GBC, Gamecube + GBA, Wii + DS, and Wii U + 3DS. For NES and Switch, Nintendo doesn't spread its resources and put all efforts into a single system.

@korosanbo @varkster Nintendo purchased the IP rights back in the late 2000s, with their first title being the remaster/enhanced port of Project Zero 2 for the Wii along with the 4th entry. Soon followed by Camera Obscura for the 3DS and lastly Project Zero 5 on Wii U. It's in the same boat as say Bayonetta, where KT still have the rights to the PS2 releases (which is why they are still up on the US PS3 store), but can't produce new titles without Nintendo involved or their permission to do so elsewhere (like Wonderful 101 and Platinum Games).

They do use the Project Zero engine for other titles however, such as that VR Sense horror game a while back.

EDIT: With how terribly poor 5 sold though I doubt we will see a port or new title from the IP anytime soon.

Where are the portable consoles on that chart??

@Varkster Nintendo doesn't own Project Zero/Fatal Frame, Koei Tecmo fully owns the IP. Nintendo just published some games.

EDIT: I double-checked and Nintendo might own (or co-own) Spirit Camera (3DS) and Project Zero 2 Wii Edition but not the other games including the original Project Zero/Fatal Frame 2 (not the Wii remake) and the IP. There are websites that say that Nintendo owns the IP but they don't provide any proof.

@Varkster from what I've heard, Nintendo is "exploring every franchise" (something like that) with the Switch. Take that with a grain of salt because it's a second hand source for me, but this person has been right a few times before.

Also, they seem to think a new F-Zero is on the way. I am refraining fron getting too pumped, but I like that idea so I'm somewhat believing it. Lol

99% are happy that Nintendo is doing great!

@Kabloop and then there is this 1% or less who need to leave their poo lying around and downplay every success. Sure, the framework of the 1980s is different from 2020. So what's your suggestion how to compare console generations? How to take your "social media inflation" into consideration?

@Nourldean I didn't know Switch Lite wasn't a handheld.

@retro_player_77 Because it's handheld? You can connect it to a TV, but it's a handheld console.

Only another 190m or so more sales to beat the Wii/DS combo.

Flippancy aside, I am surprised how well it is selling (and continues to sell). I’ve always been lukewarm on the Switch; it wasn’t priced cheaply like previous handhelds (I would never get for my young children, but a 2DS I would), and I think it’s too expensive for how it performs as a home console. But clearly that’s not how the wider market perceives it!

I’ll probably get one one day, when the price comes down to what I deem reasonable. Can’t see that being anytime soon though.

Well done Nintendo, I hope their success keeps up.

Wow congratulations Nintendo! Surpassing the NES is amazing popularity, especially following the insipid Wii U (which I think was a great game machine,, but missed the mark in many ways).
That said, as amazing as the Switch is, I don’t think it will match the cultural impact of the NES, which resurrected home video games from the Atari shock and set the standard for all following generations of consoles.

What's more interesting is that Microsofts most successful console, the 360, had only sold 40 million units in the first 3 years, so the Switch is on it's way to beat Microsoft. That means they could possibly be the number 2 in a 3 horse race, which isn't bad at all.

(I know they are already technically number 2, given how poorly the Xbox One has sold, but with the new generation Microsoft seem to have fixed most of the issues with the Xbox brand).

This is absolutely fantastic. I'm so happy with everything the Switch has to offer and I've been playing it pretty much every day since launch. This is so deserved!

@Agriculture I agree that they've totally done a great turnaround as regards messaging and services, I still wonder though if it's enough for them to have a real go at this next gen

People said "oh but it's a handheld, it should be compared to handheld figures!??!?!?!?!" Well at this rate it's going to outsell the 3DS by next year, which did pretty good by all accounts, what will their excuse be then? And all this from a device that isn't all about muh graphix...

Good job to Nintendo for managing to draw everyone in with Animal Crossing.

Still doesn't make me feel better about the output or lack thereof, but eh, what do I know? Clearly not enough.

and third party studios still treat the switch as a garbage bin/after thought? i want more tales of, but bandai is too lazy to make that happen and if it was to happen they would port it a year later because they're dicks! activision doesn't have a single call of on switch, like come on! rockstar, if the rating is to be believed will publish gta 3 on switch but won't even bring 5, which was on 360.

it really sucks to be a nintendo fan and because of the content drought, since the switch doesn't have as many big third party hitters, the drought feels worst!

The NES will overtake it.

@Kabloop
Good points there.

Adding in the fact that people are generally much more affluent now than in the 1980's and that the world population is much greater (4.6 bn in 1983 vs 7.5 bn in 2017), makes the NES's numbers even more impressive.

I’m still not convinced the Switch will pass the Wii, but I feel it will at least get close and who knows, maybe it will surpass it. I do believe the next big test for the Switch will be the end of this year when the PS5 & XBSX are released. Whilst arguably not direct competitors, there will be overlap as many people are likely to find themselves having to make a choice. The question is how many more potential Switch owners are there out there and what does Nintendo have to do to entice them? New model? Price drop? Specific software? I myself remain tempted for a version with an enhanced battery life but I keep on holding out, especially as my lack of commuting means I don’t need the extra battery yet.

Now would be a perfect time to announce a more powerful model for a Christmas 2020 release.

Pair the Mario collection with it and they'd have a killer finish to an otherwise slow year.

@FargusPelagius DS numbers are where even I start to scratch my head in doubt, frankly. Debunked as the mythical threat of mobile gaming has always been, there was still something go-to about DS before smartphones fully embraced it, something more than elaborate games or even basic puzzlers. Forget Wii Fit, Nintendo DS software library was a generous source of crosswords, event planners and yoga diaries, non-interactive cookbooks and even fiction books... Nintendo DS made it all mainstream before smartphones did - but once an increasingly common commodity like mobile phones fully merged with (and introduced more accessible pricetags to) touch-based PDAs, most people specifically in the market for this utility stuff found themselves without the need to buy a game console for it - it all flocked to devices they were already all but expected to have on them at all times.

The VG market itself is proportionally bigger nowadays that it's possible to reach Wii numbers without those who needed a console as their exercise machine (even PS4 recently proved as much). But whether it's proportionally bigger to make up for everyone who used to need a console as their PDA... is still an open question.

At this point in the NES's lifecycle it hadn't even released in the UK yet.

Oh no where is NintenDoomed fandom - where are you....common its not so hard to list yourself here......

@Varkster No business has unlimited resources and IP, lol! But, what games on the Switch do you consider “hardcore?”

@tillyboo Now, during an economic recession from the pandemic? John Cena asks, “ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT??”

@TG16_IS_BAE Recession or not, the Switch is selling insanely well.
The market is still moving on. Xbox and PS5 about to launch. Announce the Switch Pro model to steal some thunder. Couple it with a massive game and you're into a winner.

@tillyboo They just announced they are recovering from production issues thanks to pandemic, you think they are going to all of a sudden shift their resources to a new system? Nintendo is a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” kind of company. It makes zero sense for them to make a new system, when they are doing so well with this. Hate to break it to you, but there isn’t going to be an updated Switch with more powerful hardware, that’s not Nintendo’s way lol

@nintendope64 Sony and Microsoft also have many flaws. Sony does marketing very well, but if you look at the launch of their consoles there are a lot weird games that end up forgotten because they weren't that great. Microsoft has outright given up on having launch games and every game that comes to the Series X will also come to the 2013 console Xbox One.

I seriously doubt a Switch 2 will outsell the Playstation 5, but it's entirely possible it will outsell the Xbox Series X. They need to up their hardware game though, and a Switch 2 will need a fast SSD just like the other two new consoles.

@TG16_IS_BAE they did it with the DS? Why not the Switch?
The company is very different today than it has been before the Switch.
Of course this is all speculation and nobody knows anything until it happens. One can dream though.

@nhSnork not going to lie, a large part of DSs success was how easily hacked it was. Slap a cheap SD card in there and you had access to homebrew emulation and 1000s upon 1000s of games. As well as having just the right appeal at just the right time, alot of families happily had more than one DS. It could do so much more than it's solid software library, and it was very simple to do. However I honestly believe the numbers are not indicative of it's actual user base. I owned 4 DSs, alot of home brewers owned 2. So I feel it's actual user base was closer to 80-90 million. There's essentially about the same amount of gamers in the world each generation. Or we'd have seen a machine break a billion sales by now.

@tillyboo You mean the DS to 3DS? Great, so that means we will have to wait 7 years before they change something. DS = 2004, 3DS = 2011

@TG16_IS_BAE Just because it happened like that in the past, doesn't mean it will again. 😂

The Switch Lite came out of nowhere. That may happen again.

@tillyboo The Switch lite has more powerful hardware? I don’t think you’re very good at looking at Nintendo’s history lmao

Let's bring the Parodius games to Switch! We already have a Gradius collection, so let's see their parodies!

@tillyboo The Switch Lite was very much like the 2DS appearing out of nowhere, or the DS Lite which was meant to be more compact, or the GBA SP which featured a light for its screen. These re-releases don't have significantly better hardware.

As a matter of fact, the Switch Lite is almost a downgrade, only supporting longer battery life than the original because it uses less features.

If they want to sell more units than the Wii they need to really commit to making a better console e.g. fixing the eShop, bringing their online service on par with their competitors, implementing quality of life changes like folders and maybe lowering the price of the Switch for this holiday season.

@Kabloop You're right. Social media is a major competitor to Switch

The NES was a home console, the Switch is a handheld console that can be plugged into a TV, which was the case with Sony's PSP in 2005/06. You could go on forever comparing console sales. How about Saturn versus Game Boy Colour? Or Game Gear versus the Amstrad GX4000? Pointless exercise comparing a handheld console to a home console. Nintendo never replaced the Wii U, it only replaced the 3DS with the Switch, no matter what Nintendo claims.

@Randomname19 Funny thing is. The Wii U is not the much different than the switch.

@Kabloop

Social media doesn’t create new audiences, it just reaches them differently.

Also three words for you regarding competition, especially in the US: Video Game Crash

And finally, in countries like the US and the UK, over 80% of households have a smartphone. Where you can download an almost unlimited number of free, easily accessible titles. The Switch has succeeded in the face of competition that is literally free at the point of entry.

@retro_player_77 DQX was later ported to 3DS and Wii U, though

@Kabloop And with a world population roughly 1/4 the size....

@Kabloop it's incredible

I'd also like to see those numbers compared to GB and DS. Comparing to Nintendo's home consoles is one half of the equation, but those sales have been declining since the NES. Nintendo's handhelds have been their core sellers, and Switch wears that mantle as well as (or more than) the home console mantle. And technically, to compare it to the NES era you'd have to compare it to at least the first half of the GameBoy's sales + NES sales (console + handheld sales together) to compare properly against the past. Even vs. WiiU, it's WiiU+3DS you have to compare to, not just WiiU, since Switch succeeds both of them.

One thing this does all make very unclear though is what's in the future. If anything what Switch demonstrates is that people love convenience, and a machine that both goes handheld and console maximizes value and convenience. That also tells me that once game streaming goes mainstream and is available on their dockable phone or tablet, but delivers PS/XB level games, consumers are going to flock to that like crazy. That could be a longer term problem for Nintendo's traditional handheld success, and I don't see them going the electronics-giant route and mass producing phones and tablets. That is no doubt a significant concern in Nintendo's future, at least once internet speeds (someday?) start accommodating that more broadly.

@6thHorizon At least in the US, where NES had it's dominance, people have much less discretionary income now than in the 80s. It's been a downward decline between stagflation and every mounting additional costs required in the modern world. Additional paper affluence in dollar amounts, but much less discretionary. Albeit, the widening income gap and depletion of the actual "middle" class, has meant the top third has far more discretionary than ever and the other 2/3 have considerably less. But I'm not sure that split has much effect on a portable entertainment device's sales. Regardless, NES remain more impressive given the time and place it sold those numbers!

@MaxiPareja very true but the NES also had to contend with a video game market that was dead in the US and a stigma that it was only meant for kids. A lot more gamers now and the video game business is as healthy and profitable as it's ever been.

The the other consoles had a handheld Gameboy or DS console sales as competition. The Switch is its own handheld device. It's in competition with its self, unlike the Wii for example.

To make a fair comparison, don't count the Switch Lite, or add the other handhelds consoles Gameboy or DS to its relevant home console totals.

As much as people want to try and continue to downplay Nintendo's success, the numbers are impressive.

The NES era had no competition from Playstation, no Xbox, no smartphones, no tablets, limited PC exposure compared to now, no social media, an internet in its consumer infancy, etc. The dominance that Nintendo wielded over the marketplace during this era can never be replicated by any video game company again, given the options available today.

To go from the WiiU to this, is great positive momentum for Nintendo. Are they perfect? No, but I'd love some examples of companies that are.

The pandemic has been a double-edged sword. Animal Crossing and Switch sales soared because of it, but other games appear delayed because of it (like other companies). With literally hundreds of good games and only 3 years in, I feel like the Switch, and Nintendo, are in good shape**

**Disclaimer: "good shape" is defined by financial numbers, library and sales of existing games...not wishlist expectations that were never promised, not by assumptions of "no games" being parroted, and not by speculative projections and words that are inventions of the mind.

@NEStalgia
Statistically the world has never been more affluent than it is now (Pandemic notwithstanding) and poverty has never been less.
Think about how many 'things' you have in your home today compared to your childhood, assuming you are an adult. To argue that overall disposable income is less today than the 1980's is wrong, whatever the country.
If I think back to my childhood in the 1980's, we had one telephone and one TV in the whole house.
Nowadays it is normal for many to have a smartphone, tablet/ laptop and multiple other unnecessary consumer goods PER PERSON!
I think that you are perhaps confusing this with disparity in wealth, which had definitely grown since 1983.
Also if you look at the inflation adjusted price of consoles and games back then, it's a wonder that many people at all could afford them.

Now normalize the numbers by number of video game players at that time and get back to me.

Amazing numbers.
Also, Nintendo is close to sell 5 billion games, since 1983!

@Hitman1102 to be fair, that’s a very good point. They found success while the market was left for dead!

@StevenG how would you define that?

Does a family who bought a Pong TV game for Christmas in 1979 count as a ‘video game player’? What about if someone bought a NES and never even played it? Do they count?

It's great to see Nintendo doing exceptionally well with the launch of Switch. I think Switch surpass Wii in three, four, maybe less years perhaps? After all, they have a prediction of approximately 25 million units more being added to overall production for next year (not saying they will reach that amount). I think that reference came from Nintendo Everything. Feel free to look it up. Saw the article from Twitter.

@hadrian The New 3DS started the "Pro" trend but yet the PS4 Pro keeps bringing up the "Pro" wording. 😄 Anyone remember the how long it took for the original 3DS to boot up? Almost 25 seconds if not longer if I recall correctly but correct me if wrong. The new 3DS took less than 15 seconds depending on content stored on the sd card.

I thought it was the Wii that was the highest selling Home/Stationary Console?

It's shocking to see people downplay the Switch's success. What kind of sales would impress you then? Combined DS+Wii sales? No console (or console + handheld) has ever done that.

How does 61m stack up against Xbox one and PlayStation 4

@korosanbo You do know that Fatal Frame is co-owned by Nintendo and Koei Tecmo Games.

@6thHorizon That's not quite true. I can't speak for "global wealth", nor the UK, nor the rising standard of living in China, except the people sleeping on factory floors..... I'm speaking for the US, which was the dominant sales region for the NES, where disposable income is significantly lower than it was in the 80's. "Wealth" may be higher, but most of that is paper wealth, with "stagflation" meaning everything costs more while income has stagnated since the 70's, often not keeping up with inflation to the point of a net income loss over that time. The cost of luxuries have dropped, especially factoring in inflation, yes. But the disposable income able to be spent on them has dropped below that. The combined rise in cost of housing, healthcare, transportation, food, durable goods (if you factor in in the 80's durable goods meant they lasted 20,30 years, now if you get 10 it's a miracle), and the amount of expenses that are not "necessities" but are somewhat necessary to stay afloat and participate in the world (the cell phones, internet services, etc. that did not exist in the 80s, for families, childcare costs where previously one spouse would stay home and take care of the home and family, now there are two incomes required to maintain the same relative buying power, meaning then childcare services and other "convenience" while not "necessity" are functionally necessary expenses to participate in the world, thus draining potential disposable income for raw entertainment expenses and the like.) The paper economy does not reflect the "real economy" in that regard.

There was a fairly complex study, the most in depth I'd seen, of this that was part of an industry report for the retail industry in the US, by a UK firm, in fact, that did a great job pulling the real data on these topics (as well as the widening income disparity) and it's effect on real retail sales. It was broad enough to split the brackets into "bottom 1/3, middle 1/3, top 1/3" and broke down a lot of those expenses.

The net result was that the bottom 1/3 was, for the first time in modern history, at negative wealth. That is, the expenses for necessity were actually greater than their income. That is to say less than zero disposable income, and high debt. The middle 1/3 had the least disposable income in modern history with an actively downward trend, effectively treading water to hold place with a small amount of disposable income. Smaller than in prior decades.

The top 1/3 on the other hand had the greatest amount of disposable income, combined with roughly static necessary expenses and lowering cost of luxuries, that amount was trending as a sharp rise in disposable income. The top 1/3 does most of the buying, principally on luxury goods, and does so at such an increasing rate that it offsets much of the losses in retail sales seen by the bottom 2/3, so that on paper things look relatively stable until it's broken down and you see that 2/3 of the economy has more or less stopped spending much at all outside essentials, and 1/3 buys 3x more than they did in the past. That's an incredibly broken economy ripe for disaster.

The report (not available online, so I can't offer a link, sorry, it was an industry report), was mostly focused on the hastening collapse of retail since the 2008 "great recession", focused on debunking the myths of changing generational tastes to look at the purely economic causes, and is specifically a focus on the US retail sector, not EU or UK. However as this is a comparison against NES sales and NA was the dominant NES region, it's a relevant detail.

Note, also, that this data was prior to the pandemic and does not include that shift. Post-pandemic trends show an even worse economic picture in the US than is seen on the surface. The top 1/3 has halted a lot of discretionary spending and is sitting on that money for a rainy day. In an economy where the bottom 1/3 has no discretionary income to spend, the middle 1/3 has less to spend than in the past and is spending comparatively little, and the top 1/3 did nearly all the discretionary buying and is now deferring that spending to savings instead.....the reverberations of that near-shutdown of the entirety of the consumer economy will be felt worldwide.

The narrative since 2008 has been that the spending just moved online. The reality is that the spending has been drying up, and now that most sales are online, the raw numbers show there's just significantly less sales, not a shift from physical to online as the prior mantra has gone. The referenced report delved into that reality long before there was a pandemic. The pandemic just brought the data to the fore.

Launch-aligned Nintendo hardware shipments after 40-42 months on the market:
> NSW: 61.44 million
> WIIU: 12.80 million
> 3DS: 44.14 million
> WII: 70.93 million
> NDS: 70.60 million
> GCN: 18.50 million
> GBA: 58.13 million
> N64: 28.50 million

@TG16_IS_BAE dude You're ignoring my point. Stop with the cocky attitude... 😂

When the NES was around, only kids and young adults played games, so it would've been impossible to sell as many as today. However, the NES kids of the 80s are now still buying consoles and their kids are too, which is why consoles sell so much more now. They are part of the entire culture and not just for the young crowd. But for cultural impact, the NES remains unchallenged and I believe still the most impactful console ever released. I love my Switch though, they are my two all time favorite consoles.

@NEStalgia back in the day of vinal records, long before video games, when a lot of folk were paid in cash, the first port of call after pay day was the Record Store. An album and a couple of single records, or maybe if you were feeling flush, a couple of albums. And maybe at the weekend a trip to the pictures, (movies). Always two films showing for the one ticket price.

Times move on and progress takes over. CDs took the vinal market, and streaming is now taking sales from the cd market. And we have Video games, home movies, smartphones, apps and on and on.

We are now paid our money into a bank and we spend it with our bank card. And the record shop has all but gone, but the equivalent money we would have spent on vinal; we now have many choices of where to be spent it.

Rental for a smartphone, video games, movie rental, music, subscriptions, books etc, and all these are fighting for our weekly entertainment money.

Then if you add into the equation, time, people run out of time, and even if they can afford to buy, say a video game, they can't always afford the time to play it,so they don't buy another one for a while.

And lastly, overpricing, this causes a second hand market to spring up. When I sell my copy of Paper Mario, Nintendo loses a sale and eventually their price goes up and the gamer buys a game or two less a year......

This is impressive no matter how hard to try negatively spin it.

Honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Switch surpasses the Wii, especially if the Switch gets Mario Kart 9.

@tillyboo Right, I’m ignoring you because you don’t know what you’re talking about.

And you're a moron

Interesting comparison that the NES managed to sell 100 million more software sales at the 61 million hardware mark.

@korosanbo Project Zero 5 was on a whole new level of low sales compared to the normal lesser sales of general Wii U titles. It was barely making four digit salss.

From what I've been looking up though seems the producer of the series wants to make a new game but Nintendo doesn't (as of April 2020). I love the series so do hope it gets given another shot.

I will say it again, not to poop on the PlayStation or Sony but am I the only person who felt the PlayStation 2 onwards were somewhat overrated?
I know people like one of my uncles who bought one as a DVD Player and can still occasionally play games. They don't really game no more. I bought a PS3 for Blu-Ray but have since given up on collecting for the platform.

Also I feel that the Nintendo Switch is on-track to do Wii/DS/PS2 numbers. My initial estimates were 120 million but now I think at the rate they're going they're going to beat that and be closer to the 150 mark.

@tillyboo Not really. They don't need a more powerful model yet.
The Switch is selling well and will continue to do so. If you look at when the DS exploded, it was during its 3rd and 4th year.

You want to release a Pro when the console is about to decline. Just as the DSi kept the momentum for the DS going. You don't want the Pro model to replace the initial model otherwise you might as well have a sequel.

The Switch is on track to equal the DS consoles if it keeps its sales rate going. Its moving at around 2 million a month during this pandemic. 2 million for 12 months is 24 million. If we assume that it sells an extra ~5 million during the holiday season then we can predict that it will sell an additional 30 million by this time next year. And if it keeps that up for 2 years, that'll be another 50-60 million units under they belt.

Nintendo themselves are making an additional 25 million consoles and since the console is constantly sold out, we can expect an increase in sales of at least 50 million in the coming 2 years.

That'll mean they would have sold 110 million units by July 2022.

Assuming it declines after that, a Pro model should therefor comes out in 2022 to keep sales going. Lets just say they sell 15 million per year for 2 more years before the sales completely fall off grid.

That'll be 140 million by 2024 when a sequel should come out. Sales will then fall rapidly as people buy the new console and it'll likely move around 10-15 units in another 1 or 2 years. Giving it numbers close to the DS and PS2.

Edit: If the Pro comes out in 2021, it might eat into the sales of the Switch and will likely be the best selling year for the console. I would predict 30-35 million units sold at that rate in 2021-2022. But if that's the case, I would say the lifetime sales will likely end up probably lower then the DSes.

So in other words, Nintendo should try an play the long game here.
The longer they can sell the Switch for without a Pro, the better, the sales will be for them.
If we look back, the DSi ate into the DS's sales number also. They could have delayed the launch of the DSi by 9-12 months and would have probably squeezed a bit more sales performance out of the Lite.

@MaxiPareja You do realize that market size is a defined thing right? It has gone up dramatically.

@StevenG Yep.

That’s got a great deal to do with increased household wealth, increased population, greater number of entrants in the market along with the introduction of smartphone gaming.

Very, very little to do with social media

The NES and SNES were the last two Nintendo consoles I truly loved, so the Switch, which has become my favorite console of all time, is in good company and hopefully will overtake the highly overrated console that is the Wii in the end.

Imagine what sales would be like if there were any Switch consoles in stores to sell/buy.

@MaxiPareja Also the age of players. Right now people of many age groups play video games, in the NES era only children did.

@Scott_PdP I think Nintendo are being conservative with their sales because they are already successful. Instead of over producing units then selling at cheaper prices later, Nintendo is basically sold out all the time. They estimate how much customer base they have and sell it.
I'm making a video talking about this and my updated predications of how many they will sell. Initially I guessed they would move 120 million but now they are on track to beat the PS2.

Look, if Nintendo wants the entire Switch name (yes, not just the current models) to beat Wii's sales, they should remain relevant even after the next generation of consoles arrive.
I expect the current Switches to remain selling several years too, just hopefully not the only model to be selling, if you know what I mean. Nintendo definitely needs newer hardware to make the most of them.

Also, "home console" you say? that's why the hybrid concept should never fade for the future, I prefer to focus on its handheld part, but the while home concept is also important, it works best for its exclusives IMO.

@Kabloop Over a far longer period of time and with less significant competition.