We know that the Nintendo Switch pretty much dominates game and hardware sales most of the time — but what about when we compare it to other physical media?
Well, it turns out — in the UK, at least — that not only is the Switch the most profitable gaming 'format' in the country, but it's also even more popular than other media and entertainment. GamesIndustry.biz's Chris Dring has shared sales figures (from ERA and GfK) on Twitter that shed light on just how well the Switch has sold, in terms of revenue, compared to vinyl, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray.
Despite a drop of 12.5% compared to last year, for the first 35 weeks of 2022, the Switch has made a staggering £88,650,439. That's a pretty big figure, even with vinyl's pretty-substantial jump compared to last year. Making just under £81 million, the record business is booming and knocking on the Switch's door.
Of course, this isn't based on units sold, and given that video games and Switch hardware cost more than vinyl, CDs, DVDs, etc., this perhaps isn't too surprising, but it's still a fun little fact! We wonder if first-party titles often being full-priced also helps give Nintendo the edge, here... And what if Nintendo started selling vinyl records?
CDs and DVDs both selling over £65 million worth is also pretty interesting, but like the Switch, both have seen a drop in profits over the past year. And Sony's PlayStation (both 4 and 5) is very close behind vinyl profits, so perhaps things will flip next year if console shortages begin to improve.
What do you think of this little fact? When was the last time you bought a vinyl or CD? Let us know!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 33
To be honest I'm more surprised that vinyl is above Playstation and CDs and DVDs are above Xbox. I still buy CDs and DVDs but a lot of people seem to consider them obsolete now.
Question : What do you think of this little fact?
Me : Used to be I really defend my Switch but after during pandemic, I prefer my PS4 than Switch.
And the only reason is that these Game Cards were and still are expensive to manufacture, but people are willing to pay this much money for Switch games, not to mention the incentive of saving storage on the console.
@Dogorilla I still buy DVD's mostly. Blu-Rays and music CD's far less. Unless they caught my interests.
People still buy CDs? I can't remember the last time I saw one that wasn't a pack-in for a special edition of a game or something.
Cars are more profitable than horses.
@Dogorilla CDs rose for the first time since the late 90s last year. Music hard mediums aren’t dying, you could lump DVDs and Blu Rays in that category since you can’t stream concert videos or 5.1 audio.
Gaming physical copies are declining with movie hard formats. Services such as PS Plus, Game Pass and EA Play cut into sales, there isn’t a similar service on Switch… yet.
I still buy CDs for my car. I have two massive cupboards of DVDs, but I hardly ever watch them as you can stream most of them. I went through a faze of buying vinyl but cant be bothered with that anymore.
I still think its sad that people dont buy physical albums any more, they just stream them through whatever service they want.
When vinyl went to tapes, then tapes went to CDs, i just thought the next step would be mini Discs, but then came the internet where you could just download it and physical media started to die
I still buy Blu-rays now and then.
With DVDs and CD albums I usually get those through second hands.
I suppose that's the benefit of having such limited internal storage? Amazing cartridge sales.
Wow, Switch is selling better than oldskool media nobody wants anymore. That is amazing!
@Xiovanni - "wear down each time you use them."
Someone hasn't done research of vinyl in a long time.
And has never experienced bit rot. Which, the reader will repeatedly wear down with its light, which generates heat and the film cracks. Once that happens it's hosed permanently.
PS1s and CD formats are notorious in this, for example. PS2 is getting reports periodically.
@progx "CDs had their highest sales since the late 90s last year."
Are you mistaking CDs with vinyl? CD sales have been in terminal decline for a number of years now, they fell 12% in the UK last year. https://darko.audio/2021/12/in-the-uk-cds-are-down-but-a-long-way-from-out/
@Rob3008 CD sales grew last year for the first time in 20 years last year. Pretty sure disruptions in vinyl manufacturing helped, but I’m thinking they’re going to grow again this year. Price point, sound quality and availability are going to be helping factors. I prefer vinyl, but it’s great CDs are on the grow again.
I didn’t say they beat vinyl.
https://www.engadget.com/riaa-streaming-cd-vinyl-music-sales-184307421.html
Switch games have a high resell value - especially the Nintendo 1st party titles - which makes the physical media more popular for gamers that want to play, finish, sell and put towards next game.
All of the other physical media that is on the list has a comparatively, proportionately and considerably lower resell value.
I officially rename Microsoft's hardware line... LoLBox.
It’s interesting but I think we might be seeing a bit of a push back against digital sales in some ways. Yes, there is the convenience and space saving aspect of digital libraries but with worries around digital rights, shows being taken off of Netflix etc more people might be returning to actually ‘owning’ media. Even space for physical games isn’t too bad with a bit of work; all my disc based games are in a large wallet with the boxes stored in my loft. My entire games collection resides in two ikea boxes for carts and cd wallets for games. Hundreds of games on one shelf. Same with a lot of my CDs and most DVDs (though I keep my oldest ones on two tall towers in my room). Yes, they may eventually stop working but until they do they are there to enjoy whenever I want, not at the whim of some online company.
Tbh I'm not surprised even in things like supermarkets reducing their DVD and bluray sections whilst the gaming section is getting bigger.
Blu-ray is up year-on-year? That's the figure that surprised me the most (with vinyl album sales higher than CD being a close second)
Who’s still buying DVDs in 2022? Ugh.
I’m among the relative minority who still buys CDs and Blu-rays. With regard to music, too many platforms sell lossy trash, which is tolerable if you’re only interested in a la carte tracks, but I can almost never justify buying a full album digitally when a CD version gives you vastly superior quality and a tangible product.
I usually just rip my CDs and leave them be afterwards, so, I wouldn’t mind going digital if the quality is lossless (and they so rarely are). I always make copies for my car as I don’t want to damage the original discs.
I could also be tempted to go digital with movies/TV if the quality is at least as good as a typical Blu-ray and are DRM-free, but we know that’s never going to happen, so discs it is.
A lot of turntables cost more than Switch hardware, and a lot of new vinyl costs more than Switch software.
Also the other non-Switch formats are more pirate-friendly. I wonder if the music industry would still be alive today if p2p sharing didn't get out of control in the early 2000s.
@Silly_G I still buy DVDs for older TV shows and movies. Some are not available on blu-ray or are more expensive, and the quality are usually ok since some never got remastered or anything like that. Just got the original TMNT complete series for $25.
Also more profitable than 8-track and punch-cards!
Not to be that person, but the figures being used are for revenue. Whatever format is most “profitable” would depend on taking out costs from revenue for each format, which doesn’t appear to have been done in the twitter post.
Wonder what this would look like if they included revenue from the equipment people need to listen to vinyl, CDs, and DVDs. That's essentially what they did including hardware and software into one category for Switch and Playstation.
Edit: Also I feel sorry for those who have apparently stopped enjoying physical music media in recent years, but as others pointed out, they are far from dead.
@shining_nexus : That’s fair enough as I too would (albeit rarely) still grab DVDs if no alternative is available, but my comment was aimed more so at those who still default to DVDs when higher quality versions are also available.
Even for older TV series without HD masters, I wish they would release them on Blu-ray instead as they can really cut down on the number of discs (and in turn the physical space that such a set would occupy). I still see DVD boxsets with 20+ discs being released, often for about AU$200. I daresay that it would be cheaper to issue the same set on only a handful of Blu-rays and throw in a cheap Blu-ray player for that kind of money!
This is why articles on weather or not Nintendo will increase the price of the switch are stupid lol
This statistic is pointless. If anything, the Switch should be considered a media player and then you‘d have to compare it record players and dvd players. But even that is pointless. Music and games are two different things. Might as well include books.
I still buy CDs for my favorite bands. DVDs and Blu Ray I will always buy because I'm not going to pay a monthly subscription for something that I can buy once then watch whenever I want only paying once.
@progx lol… “ CDs had their highest sales since the late 90s last year” thats totally false, where did you get that from????
Cds sales did increased last year, but no way near the sales it had 20 years ago.
Am I missing a graph? The table above is sales/revenue, not profit, right?
@progx thanks for the article.
Read it again and tell me where exactly it states that they had their highest sales since the 90’s….. you misunderstood what the article says.
Having an increase of sales this year after 17 years of declining, does not mean it have the highest sales since the late 90’s.
I buy Blu-ray and Nintendo Switch games mostly.....the occasional CD... occasional vinyl. I live in the USA though. 😎
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