The latest Japanese charts are in and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has once again topped the pile with a further 148,482 sales, bringing its current total up to 1,515,673.
This puts the game comfortably ahead of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which managed 8,373 sales to land it in second place. The only newcomer this week is BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 in third place, raking in 7.514 sales.
Elsewhere, Nintendo is absolutely dominating, with the likes of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Splatoon 3, Nintendo Switch Sports, and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet all sitting comfortably in the region's top ten. Breath of the Wild is also benefiting from the hype around its sequel, managing a further 6,385 sales this week.
Here's your look at the Japanese software top ten:
- [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Nintendo, 05/12/23) – 148,482 (1,515,673)
- [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 04/28/17) – 8,373 (5,310,115)
- [NSW] BUSTAFELLOWS Season 2 (Extend, 05/25/23) – 7,514 (New)
- [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 03/03/17) – 6,385 (2,196,076)
- [NSW] Minecraft (Microsoft, 06/21/18) – 5,368 (3,146,828)
- [NSW] Pokémon Scarlet / Pokémon Violet (The Pokémon Company, 11/18/22) – 5,042 (5,039,337)
- [NSW] Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo, 12/07/18) – 4,978 (5,200,365)
- [NSW] Splatoon 3 (Nintendo, 09/09/22) – 4,804 (4,024,155)
- [NSW] Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Nintendo, 02/24/23) – 4,492 (436,641)
- [NSW] Nintendo Switch Sports (Nintendo, 04/29/22) – 3,389 (1,084,836)
Looking at the hardware for this week, the Switch has maintained its comfortable lead on the competition, with the entire family making up a total of 86,524 unit sales. PlayStation 5 is creeping up behind (sort of) with a total of 38,092 sales.
With the upcoming launch of Street Fighter 6 this week and Final Fantasy XVI on the 22nd, we're expecting the PS5 to receive a healthy boost in sales. Whether it can supplant the Switch, however, is another story.
Let's take a peek at the full hardware chart:
- Switch OLED Model – 69,829 (4,643,870)
- PlayStation 5 – 32,894 (3,086,043)
- Switch – 9,692 (19,331,668)
- Switch Lite – 7,003 (5,310,715)
- PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 5,198 (501,619)
- PlayStation 4 – 966 (7,871,670)
- Xbox Series S – 126 (252,562)
- Xbox Series X – 115 (186,037)
- New 2DS LL (including 2DS) – 26 (1,191,655)
Let us know what you make of this week's Japanese charts in the comments below.
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[source famitsu.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 83
I expected the PS5 sales numbers to fall after the first wave of people who couldn’t get one due to stock shortages. But these low numbers really surprised me.
Removed - trolling/baiting
Good to see Zelda still on top after 3 weeks, should easily beat BoTW total sales by the end of the year. Playstation will also get a boost in sales soon once FF16 comes out.
But for Xbox 😬, I think they will continue to struggle in Japan for the rest of the gen, only way to boost sales would be to get exclusive Japanese games but what Japanese developer would risk losing money and angering their fans by only releasing on xbox.
I wonder if there will be PS5 Slim with cheaper price on next year.
And somehow the japanese have still managed to find more than 20 2DS LLs to sell this week again lol.
Great to see TOTK on top. Won’t be surprised if it overtakes the previous game’s sales.
@Chaotic_Neutral I respect your opinion but I strongly disagree with you, it's neither a Ubisoft clone (especially not a lackluster one) nor has it a "basic" build mechanic
I like seeing "New 2ds- 26" That just feels silly
Also looking ta the software harts 8/10 are Nintendo first party games which is quite a feat, and Minecraft which has been out years. But where are all the newer third party games? Are they just not making games for the switch.
@Chaotic_Neutral lacklustre Ubisoft clone🙄 from which game?
To be fair maybe people prefer the Ubisoft-Clone exclusives from Sony with no building mechanics.
I've struggled getting into any of them really. The best open world game on the PS5 is Death Stranding imho.
@Classic603 It's not much less than the XBOX.
@Rpg-lover @mariomaster96 so what gameplay mechanics does ToTK have that hasn't been present in pretty much every Ubisoft game?
The only difference is the ability to mess around with physics and abilities in a sandbox - the core gameplay loop could have been ripped straight from a FarCry game, just with less story.
*Spot a camp/tower in the distance, clear the area or do a mini puzzle to then open up the map.
If you don‘t like the game fine but why come here and piss on our parade? Millions love it.
@Chaotic_Neutral name some of your favorite games
I'm glad Zelda is no 1 it completely deserves it. I only have played games I get for free on ps plus ultimate and I am going to play the game I preordered for June 6th. Diablo 4 and then it's just pikmin 4 for me and I won't purchase any more games untill September, by which time I should have a massive collection of games to choose from
Isn't trying to trash an open world game for having combat, different locations to go to and hidden things to collect a bit like trashing a platformer for having platforms or a shoot 'em up for having a whizzy ship with lasers?
@Chaotic_Neutral much, much better physics, which is the basis for the creative problem solving that is the core of the entire game, and also the reason why BOTW and TOTK can realistically allow players to challenge the final boss immediately after finishing the tutorial area. Ubisoft games, like practically every other open world RPG, gatekeep content behind levels and abilities. BOTW and TOTK don't.
As a lapsed gamer, this is why TOTK and BOTW are the only open world games I can stomach. I resent being made to do pointless busy work to get to the parts of the game I want to play. BOTW and TOTK let me do whatever I want. Don't feel like finishing the dungeons? Cool you don't have to. Don't feel like finishing shrines? Cool you don't have to. Don't feel like fighting? Don't feel like building? Don't feel like climbing? Don't feel like unlocking the map? You don't have to do any of it.
In my 80 hours of TOTK I've only completed a handful of quests. I've outright ignored Koroks when I came across them. I've built 4 or 5 original devices and otherwise stuck to blueprints, and I've completed maybe 30% of the shrines I've encountered. If I did something similar in an Ubisoft game I'd be hardlocked out of progress.
I wonder how much the physical/digital ratio has changed since the Switch launched. In any case TotK’s sales are very impressive and it will likely outsell BotW in physical sales.
Worth mentioning here that the Switch was the best selling console in the UK last month! Nintendo weren't kidding when they said they were being bullish this year. How do you replace something so successful!? I think this is what they mean by uncharted terrortory lol. 7th year and still market leader without a price cut! What is going on!? What is clear is Nintendo's ethos of games selling consoles. Hopefully that doesn't fall on deaf ears over at Microsoft. They own everyone! Show us the games, guys!
Street Fighter will break this up a bit next week.
@GrailUK this is charted and dangerous territory imo. Nintendo is notorious for following huge hits with duds. I know they are aware of this so I think they are being above-average cautious on their next console. A simple upgrade won't cut it. It never has.
Will be interesting to see how long the "TotK effect" will last.
Right now the game itself and various SKUs of the Switch are selling like hotcakes around the world from what I can deduct from various Amazon best selling video games lists etc.
But TotK was always going to be a "Top heavy" game sales wise, being the successor to a complete smash hit. Just look at this weeks japanese chart; in three weeks TotK has sold almost 75% of what BotW managed to sell in 6 years.
@SpaceboyScreams my top 5 favourite games are:
*Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time (depending on which I've played recently)
*Hollow Knight
*Elden Ring (although DS3 or Sekiro could easily take this spot)
*Spiderman
@EvrgrnCmln Have you played any of the recent Assassin's Creed games? You are literally only locked for the story missions, which makes sense for the progression. Valhalla gives you all of the map to explore at your leasure - I've maxed out my settlement, found most armour sets and opened every Fast travel point yet I'm still on the second "story mission". FarCry 5 you could literally go anywhere and do whatever you wanted from the start - I had maxed out my skill tree before tackling any of the Bosses before I love exploring. The difference between them and TotK/BotW is that exploration is rewarded qith either skill points or better loot.
You get nothing for exploring in the latest Zelda games. In fact, exploration becomes a chore early game because of the stupid stamina gimmick (which is effective a soft lock to certain areas). Yes you can just spam stamina meals but I hate having to open my menu every few minutes to refill my wheel.
I get that some people enjoy these games, but I have no idea why so many people feel the need to White Knight them. I've played Nintendo games since the Snes (had a Master System instead of the NES) and they are becoming more and more generic over time.
And all of those are completely unlike anything to ever come before them? Especially Hollow Knight (PS our lists are pretty similar, except this game is in mine now too)
Zelda Tears of The Kingdom = 25 hours played and finished with it
Zelda Breath of The Wild = over 1100 hours played and will play more
I guess kids love the building of vehicles etc. I know my young nephew does. But for me the game had little to offer, the spell of BotW is completely gone.
i was surprised it took me a while to get into totk. didn't like opening area, did the rito section....idk when i rolled up on the goron village though i fell in love w the game
@Cashews I think it would more than cut it to be fair. The Switch could potentially have a clear next generation boost from what the rumours say. A few tweaks like analogue triggers etc and they are singing. They probably have an idea for new gameplay with a 'gimmick' (hate that word in gaming) but I can't imagine their next console is going to stray far away from the Switch. Thy just need to make sure they aren't a victim of their own sucess. But listen to everyone thinking they are new to the gaming industry and don't know how to adopt / adapt to it lol.
@Chaotic_Neutral Yes, I have played both games you mention and I don't find them remotely similar. Their physics are rudimentary and their exploration is complicated only by the difficulty of the enemies in the way. There is no nuanced method of traversal, and no feeling of utilising the environment. These are the key aspects that made exploring BOTW and TOTK fun for me. Exploring FC5 and ACV wasn't fun for me because I've gamed since the Atari and it's been years since I've felt any sense of accomplishment or satisfaction from getting given a new beatstick or skill. It's for this reason that I gave up MMOs and got bored of Elden Ring halfway through the game. I am tired of being 'rewarded' in games by receiving items whose purpose is to make the game easier - this is what it means when you receive an item with better stats.
BOTW and TOTK were fun for me because exploration was itself a puzzle - 'how do I get from A to B' was always solvable in at least a dozen ways beyond the obvious 'just walk there'.
It's in this respect that your comments regarding the experience being gatekept by stamina gain are, to me, very telling. I rarely ever used a stamina potion in either BOTW or TOTK. I never needed to because if where I wanted to go couldn't be reached with my existing stamina, I simply found another way. There is always another way, and that, to me, was the fun of the experience. It rewards cleverness, inviting you to think about the physics of the world and how you can make them work for you, and this extends to every aspect of gameplay. I fought and beat 2 Ganon blights without arrows. I've fought enemy camps without drawing a weapon. No Ubisoft game has given me that.
You say you don't understand why people 'white knight' Zelda. I'd suggest that you, instead, are simply refusing to accept that something you don't enjoy could have qualities you haven't yourself seen in it.
@Chaotic_Neutral To each his/her own; but I will argue that the "Stamina Gimmick" is only a gimmick if that is the single mindset you are setting.
There isn't 1 solution to a problem. Not enough Stamina?
Your imagination and problem-solving skills are the only "soft locks" to the game (not saying that to insult you, by the way). The sky is the limit (pun intended)
I have only found two particular instances where there is only a single answer to a problem.
"You get nothing for exploring in the latest Zelda games"
A new shrine?
A treasure chest?
A Korok seed (that do have a purpose if you want to expand inventory)?
A new quest?
There are tons of things to find.
Or you can ignore it all and just follow the yellow dots (or figure out how to beat the game without doing any of it).
I respect that it's not your cup of tea, though. I can't convince you to like the game. I do feel this game has way more depth than other open-world game. I only use sandbox elements when I need to solve a specific problem. I'm not about making whacky contraptions just for the sake of it.
I just look at the OLED, Original and Lite console to date numbers and my mind just explodes. That's over 30 million consoles, in one country over 1.5 years, 6 years and 4 year respectively contributing to total sales. Even as popular the PS4 was in that country, not even combined with the PS5 dose it even come close!!
@Chaotic_Neutral
The Gears of War series is some of the most boring games ever released. Short games driving you down corridors shooting people from behind rubble. The main challenge is staying awake.
You therefore not being a fan of TotK makes perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense is your need to go into articles just to criticise TotK. You that desperate for attention?
Just because you have trouble sleeping doesn't mean the rest of us should suffer from your rambling childish comments. (Probably also why you enjoy GoW and its sleep inducing gameplay).
@SBandy1sounds like.someone isn't very good at more adult orientated games.
the gears series reinvented the third person shooter, yes its a corridor shooter but on Insane (which is the difficulty everyone should play on) you have to prioritise targets whilst moving between cover and working as a team to survive the horde. Its not a game to play solo, it's a bromance and as such you need a mate tonplay with and get the most out of rhe experience.
If you go back and play them nowadays is the gameplay stale, hell yes, but that doesn't take away what they did at the time and they are still quite fun brainless shooters.
As for starved of attention, maybe. The Wife is napping in the sun so I have no one to chat with while sat out in the garden enjoying a blunt.
The same could be said about you, you have after all replied here just to argue that your game is better and to talk smack about me based on a list of 5 games I enjoy.
I also enjoy BeatSaber so does that mean I'm aslo a teenage girl?
@GamingFan4Lyf I fully agree, I have said multiple times I don't enjoy the game. My original post was how Nintendo gets us to buy shrmtuff we don't like. Its digital crack, once we have had a taste they own us for life - whether we want to play or not
Wonder if Street Fighter 6 will make the chart next week, that game is too westernized and doesn't land on Japan's greatest console.
It just sells and along with that more OLED sales follows suit as well. No one shouldn't forget that part.
@Chaotic_Neutral
GOW is adult oriented!? News to me. Just felt like generic boring gameplay when I played them back in the day but there was some blood and they swore a bit so yaaaay it's for adults!
And Resident Evil 4 reinvented third person shooters, not GoW.
I am not defending TotK. Hasn't grasped me the same way as BotW did yet. I'm just pointing out how it is a bit sad how you just feel the need to have a go at a game others are enjoying just to be an attention seeker.
Is telling me you have a wife and are smoking a blunt meant to make you sound adult and cool or something? Because it is having the opposite effect. Maybe you should have a few more so you don't get so wound up about one game and feel the need to tell us all about it eh?
@Cashews And then disappeared from the chart by July.
Chaotic Neutral is allowed not to like a game lol. Not too sure why he's wanting to shout at clouds on an article where Nintendo is so clearly dominating lol. But, each to their own. I'll just say fair enough instead of demanding a resume of his gaming pedigree (Life is too short.)
(If it drops to number 2 next week, we all blame Chaotic Neutral O.<)
@GrailUK
We are all allowed not to like games, we don't all need to keep yapping on endlessly about it though!
@SBandy1 Good point. Well made. Like I said, if Zelda drops a chart place next week, then I'm pointing fingers lol. (not really, just being silly.)
What I will say is. Man, that Fire Temple huh! Been a long time since I had to use some mental agility like that. Welcome back Zelda
@SBandy1 Its the only topic getting talked about here and I like to engage and then I get caught in a loop of talking crap because (like now) I can't not reply.
@Chaotic_Neutral
This article was about the Japanese charts, yours was the second comment immediately slagging off TotK so you started that one yourself.
As for you talking crap, I concur.
@Chaotic_Neutral I 100% disagree with you about BotW and TotK BUT you have good taste in games in general
TotK already over 1.5M, great to see. Really nice to see Zelda do this good in Japan.
Based on Nintendo’s weak line up moving forward. I imagine Sony will take the top spot next week onwards.
Where are people still buying 2DS LLs?
What flat brand momentum percentage looks like.
@Lord So what PS5 game do you believe is stronger than Tears of the Kingdom and the same five games that kept on selling like hotcakes since its launch?
I'm genuinely curious how Pikmin 4 sales in Japan will rank against other titles. More than splatoon? Kirby? Feel like it could be a big winner there but have no clue
@Serpenterror
I can't see SF6 beating TotK next week but I think FFXVI will in its launch week with a spike in PS5 sales as well, and possibly the second week of its release too.
Then normal service will resume.
I personally am not too worried about the lack of future first party titles on the horizon as I expect there to be another Direct close to Pikmin 4's launch that will address that. I predict the much rumoured HD remasters of Windwaker and Twilight Princess to be out this year to capitalise on the Zelda hype as well as a couple of Nintendo surprises.
Japan will still essentially be Nintendo Land this year and for the forseeable.
@mariomaster96 this dude comes here to troll and insult people.
@SpaceboyScreams I mean, we can assume Poppie's Playtime, right? So naturally, from there we could probably say FNAF. But most fans of FNAF deny it...
@Serpenterror yeah I like my PS5 but barely touch it. I can't imagine having time to play all I want just on Switch.
@Chaotic_Neutral Tbf whilst I disagree with you that zelda is boring I do find it strange the mods deleted your first comment. I did see the comment as you mentioned zelda being boring and how you likened it to ubisoft games but is that really enough to warrant deletion and labelled a troll? Even though to me TOTK is game of the year easily I still understand that not everyone is going to like it but it seems this site doesn't like the idea of those people voicing thier opinions too strongly.
@Cashews Nintendo’s handhelds have never been duds. Obviously nothing lasts forever but there’s no reason to think there’s anything particularly dangerous about Nintendo’s current situation.
@SBandy1 No please!! We LOVE Gears of War. I have a PC gamer and my wife her PC gamer.
Gears 5 is the second most played game here. We compete online and offline. This game is HUGE, so much fun! Difficult and perfect! A lot of strategy, reflex and skill with the controller. Great design!
We have a lot of virtual friends playing Gears 5 on Steam every day! Clan vs clan is fantastic!
I feel sleepy playing slow games like Zelda, Skyrim, The Witcher 3...I don't enjoy exploring virtual scenarios. I need more action to have fun playing a game. If I want to "puzzle" I prefer strategy games like Xcom, Advance Wars, Wargroove (good A.I. against me)... Strolling through a virtual scenario starts to hit me with a feeling of isolation that leaves me depressed! I feel like the loneliest person in the world! I like games where I can compete offline or online co-op against complex artificial intelligence or people...gears 5 has one of the best A.I. ever!! The bots make smart strategies against you. it´s perfect!......games like Zelda, the enemies have virtually no artificial intelligence and I find the type of combat dull. But that doesn't mean I'm going to say that Zelda is a bad game. It's just not for me. Gears is probably not for you. But it's one of my favorite games of all time. And I've been playing since 1981!
My friends and me are playing Street Fighter 6 on Steam and this game is perfect! I have more than 1500 hours playing Street Fighter IV and 1000+ on Street Fighter V. I have 100% achievements in 36 fighting games on Steam! And it´s my #1 kind of game: fighting games! Street Fighter 6 probably will be my best game ever! Today...my best game ever is Soulcalibur VI!
@Rykdrew
I got no problem if you like GoW and don't like Zelda etc.
What I have an issue with, and I thought I already made this clear, is with someone repeatedly coming into various articles just to slag off a game because they want the attention which is what your other guy has been doing repeatedly.
As for your last paragraph......okey dokey.
@SBandy1 I did not follow your conversation, I only read about Gears of War, as if it were a poor game, but it is hot online and Gears 5 - Hivebusters is splendid! And I have no idea what "okay dokey" means.
@Rykdrew
"okey dokey" means I have no real way to respond. Take it as light hearted.
I do find GoW games poor, but I won't be going into every article to express that view like the other guy has been doing with TotK.
@SBandy1 I see. And.....at the end of the day we are very different players. I like fighting games, online competition, strategy and racing and 90% of my time is with multiplayer and competitive games. I feel sleepy playing offline single player games. I find it boring! But, you probably enjoy single player games more than competitive multiplayers. For me, gaming is like a sport. If I can't fight in person, I'll fight in the game! But, I don't have the patience to play games with a lot of plot, I don't care about the characters' stories, I don't care about the virtual setting, about the adventure, stay immersed (inside a virtual world), none of that. I see the Zelda Map..the forest, the scenario and I don't feel anything. no "wow" effect and I'll never understand so much frenzy. Well, good night, I'll leave you and the other guy fighting over there.
I can't believe there were many people on this site who claimed that this Zelda would never outsell the first. Lol. It'll outsell the first one by years end. Most major direct sequels always outsell their predecessors when they are released on the same system.
@UltimateOtaku91 It could well be because he derailed a comment section about Japanese charts, where people mostly discuss Japanese charts, and created fallout from it from the get go? Just my take from it...a lot of people are loving the game so it's guaranteed to make people bite. Especially as it's a recurring theme. But at least it was followed up with more constructive takes afterwards I suppose.
@GrailUK,
The Switch is a bit of an anomaly, as it is appealing to a much wider demographic than in traditional console markets.
The consoles sales have been declining year on year, which is to be expected with any console, but nowhere near the rate of other consoles, the Switch still has the potential to shift between 17-20 million units per year, which is amazing going into it's 6th and 7th years on the market.
A lot of the Nintendo need a new console comments, are based on what core fans want, rather than what Nintendo actually need to do. Same with the investors, they see the Pandemic boom year sales as normal, when in fact they were not for any tech. The Switch has been, and continues to be a very successful steady seller, same with it's software, which is what Nintendo will be very interested in when Nintendo plan ahead for their next console.
Nintendo have as yet to apply a decent price reduction to the Switch, in particular the OLED, which is key to the ongoing console sales imho.
@WiltonRoots,
Where's the fun in that though.
@johnvboy Absolutely. It's an ever green console!
@Cashews,
It's not so much Nintendo following up with duds, as there being more competition out there, and once Sony and Microsoft were in the core console space, than it was always going to be Nintendo that had to change direction.
Also you have to look at this financially for them too, the core console market is pretty much 180 million consoles per generation, and Nintendo could at best hope for half of this, which considering the money they would have to throw at this, and added expense of losing money on hardware etc etc, it was simply not viable for them anymore.
When the Wii and DS were launched, it was pretty much Nintendo getting in early on very popular emerging tech, motion and touch controls were both very new at the time, and of course Nintendo had the most successful generation of all time, selling 255 million consoles.
The problem with this was Nintendo were new to this market, and could not have known of the very fickle nature of a lot of these new console gamers, many had simply moved on to smartphones and cheap tablets, by the time the Wii U and 3DS came along, where Nintendo was just expecting many more just to upgrade from their Wii and DS consoles, when in reality most were simply not there. Also it must be stated Nintendo were also pretty weak in their advertising of both the Wii U and 3DS, as they felt many would just simply upgrade by default.
The Wii U and 3DS was not a total failure by any means, as Nintendo still sold around 90 million consoles and lots of software, with admittedly the 3DS doing most of the heavy lifting, but still a lot better result than they would have done, taking the core armchair console enthusiasts advice to get back into the core console space.
When people suggest parallels with previous console generations from Nintendo, it's usually just statements, rarely backed up with any context or nuance.
It's only a matter of time until Tears of the Kingdom surpasses Breath of the Wild and it's absolutely deserved from what I've seen, heard and played (and I'd say the same even if I personally didn't like the game, for example Monster Hunter Rise isn't particularly my cup of tea, but that doesn't change how good it is)!
@JohnnyMind,
I am fully expecting it to surpass BOTW's worldwide total as well, which would be even more impressive, as BOTW is the best selling Zelda game ever, by quite a wide margin, and that's only counting the sales on the Nintendo Switch.
@johnvboy Same, but it's more difficult to tell since the Japanese charts are the only ones mentioning the actual amount of sales.
@johnvboy
@JohnnyMind
I actually don't think it will outsell BotW partly because it is harder for a sequel to outsell the previous game so late in the life cycle of a console and partly because it is so popular it has increased the sales of BotW along with it!
I expect 20-25 million for TotK lifetime but still behind the 30+ million for BotW. No shame in that.
@SBandy1 Worldwide it could be as you said, but at least in Japan if it keeps on selling more or less like this much compared to new Breath of the Wild sales I think it will eventually surpass it.
@johnvboy I don't know why I got so many responses. I thought what I said was pretty basic. I wasn't speaking in absolutes.
The Wii U was a dud. The Gamecube was a dud. If the next console is a Switch 2 it will be a dud. Because all of the casuals, the ones that allow you to sell 100M+ units, will be happy with their Switch 1 for another decade.
That is all.
@SBandy1,
Could be right, the hype for this seems strong though.
@Cashews,
The Gamecube was Nintendo's last throw of the dice to remain in the core space, the Wii U failed for the reasons I stated.
Your comment makes no sense whatsoever, if you feel the Switch 2 is in anywhere near the same boat, as Nintendo's transition from the Wii to Wii U.
I feel Nintendo has tapped into a pretty good market with the Switch, a console the casuals can buy, as well as the core, to go alongside their PS5 or Series X... and more importantly the rapid drop off for the Wii IN both terms of hardware and software. is simply not happening with the Switch.
@johnvboy It makes perfect sense to me. How is it not?
The Wii: Massive hit owned by millions of casuals.
Wii 2: Massive failure casuals didn't want or need it.
Switch: same exact scenario.
The only question is what Nintendo does. I will be watching with curiosity.
@Cashews,
Not the same thing, as Nintendo understands the market more, and the proof is the Switch's ongoing success, listen I know many will want the Switch 2 to fail.... but you are backing the wrong horse if you feel that is going to happen.
You are simply looking at previous Nintendo console transitions, and insisting they are the same, when in fact they are very different.
@johnvboy Nintendo doesn't understand the market any more than Sony or MS do. You think they are geniuses and Microsoft is dumb? okay.
I'm not backing anything I love Nintendo and want them to knock it out of the park on the next console. I have no faith they will be able to. I don't have faith in any company to know what consumers are going to do 100%. Gaming specifically is a big gamble all of the time.
@Cashews,
Console companies are not stupid, but as I said Nintendo brought out the Wii and DS out of necessity, they had been simply crowded out of the core marketspace, even more so with Microsoft who can just run it's Xbox division at a loss, as it makes so much money from it's other business.
Nintendo struck gold with that generation, pretty much the definition of lightning in a bottle, no wonder they struggled with the Wii U and 3DS, as the whole market was alien to them, but as I said 90 million or so consoles is still way better than they could expect in the core space.
The Switch is a totally different kettle of fish, both in terms of ongoing hardware and software sales, Nintendo have also done a very good job with the Switch branding as well.
The biggest thing they have done imho, although to us this will seem very mundane and unimportant, is the news channel on the Switch home screen. For ourselves, who are pretty much on the internet all the time, on sites and forums looking for video game news, who will be well aware of new console news and rumors ect ect...But for the more casual Switch gamer Nintendo can not only market software to them, they can also relay information of future consoles etc... this is a very powerful tool going forward, and should not be underestimated.
As you say a lot of business is a gamble at the end of the day, but there are things companies can do to swing the odds a little more in their favor.
@johnvboy true, I remember seeing a Pokémon comment section get turned into a joycon drift trainwreck once (not by me!), some people just wanna watch the world burn…
@WiltonRoots,
Joycon drift is a very big trigger for some, and not simply a complaint that they do not have analogue ones.
@Cashews Obviously you're going to get replies when you spread misinformation. You claimed "Nintendo is notorious for following huge hits with duds," which is factually incorrect. It's only happened once in their entire history: Wii to Wii U. Sure, it's technically "possible" that Switch 2 will be a dud in the same way that it's possible that the PS5 will suddenly have a surge in sales and overtake the Switch, but there's no good reason to predict that will happen based on any of the available data.
@johnvboy Nintendo did not release the DS out of necessity. GBA was only 3 years old when DS launched in 2004 and was still selling quite well. It even occasionally outsold PS3 all the way in 2007.
I also don't see any value in combining Wii U and 3DS sales together (or Wii and DS sales for that matter). The Wii U was unquestionably a total failure and lumping it in with the 3DS to get that pointless 90 million figure does nothing to change that fact.
@FirstEmperor,
My comment was about Nintendo getting out of the core space, but true the handheld line never really fell into that, as it was always a lower powered device. I do feel however a dedicated handheld and home console, was a model Nintendo knew was not sustainable long term.
My point in combining the figures was to suggest that even though weaker, it was still a decent generation for Nintendo sales wise, and I was not suggesting the Wii U was anything but a failure in sales, hence me saying that the 3DS did all the heavy lifting as part of the 90 million sales figure.
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