100 Million and Counting: Nintendo Affirms that Switch is Still Mid-cycle (arstechnica.com) 26
Nintendo's latest financial report to investors, issued as an overview of its fiscal year's third quarter, came with a momentous announcement for the veteran video game and console producer: Switch has joined the 100 million-worldwide-sales club. From a report: What's more, Switch's current tally of 103.5 million means the device has leapfrogged over both the PlayStation 1 and Nintendo Wii in terms of sales. The count makes the Switch Nintendo's highest-selling home console of all time. While Sony's PS4 and PS2 console families continue to hold higher sales counts, neither got to the 100 million mark as quickly as Switch, which only needed 57 months to do so (March 2017 to December 2021). The only console family to get to the 100 million-global-sales mark faster is Nintendo's own portable DS platform, which needed only 51 months. The DS, which came out in 2004, launched at a lower $149 price point and went lower from there, while Switch has never sold for less than $199. In a statement to investors, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa affirmed that the Switch console, as it nears its fifth anniversary, is "in the middle of its lifecycle." Furukawa said nearly the exact same thing a few months earlier when Switch crossed the 90 million-sales mark.
small caveat (Score:1)
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The switch will be 'switched' out.
It's the games (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of Nintendo's success has been driven by the fact that if the game's fun it really doesnt matter that the hardware running it isnt top notch and Nintendo is one of the best developers around.
The fact that it can be used for mobile gaming doesnt hurt its sales either. Most of my friends who have families and also game own Switches so they can play in the living room during "family time". Seems kind of contrary to being together with the family but it works for them *shrug*.
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Most of my friends who have families and also game own Switches so they can play in the living room during "family time".
It seems odd at first, but it really makes sense in a way. My son was playing yakuza on PS5 while I was playing fire emblem on the switch. You are both together and communicating while doing something else. It is not much different from reading a news paper while your spouse watches TV.
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Seems kind of contrary to being together with the family but it works for them *shrug*.
So many switch games emphasise local multiplayer, it really can be very much a family activity.
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If everyone in the family enjoys playing video games you're spot on. That's not true for any of my friend's families though as generally the wives dont game.
My friends and I are right around our early 40's. While I know things are a bit different for younger generations very few of the ladies of our generation grew up gaming and most still to this day have no interest outside of low complexity mobile games. At least that's been my experience.
Not just the form factor (Score:2)
The Switch owes a lot of success not just to it's unique form factor and the smart move of combining their home console with their already dominant position in mobile consoles but in opening up their marketplace.
Nintendo will always sell oodles of their first party titles but being able to play many old and new indie and mainstream titles from such a breadth of developers really gives the thing it's value. A game like Hollow Knight I may not have nought if I had to play it just on my TV or my PC but the fa
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I was thinking hard about getting a switch a few years ago and once they announced the OLED revision, I knew I was getting one. The Switch is really a good system.
You get first party nintendo exclusive that I wanted to play, like zelda and fire emblem.
But you also get third party release and ports of games I wanted to play but did not in the past. I just finished dark souls last week end for instance.
And the fact that I can play at home and on the go is nice. I take business trips regularly often and being
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Shovel Knight on Switch is another great one if you like 8-bit graphics and gameplay. I know, I know! The game came out in 2014 and maybe you've played it, but I completely missed it back then. My wife and I had a newborn that year. Adulting with a needy newborn who grew into a busy toddler and now a crazy 8 year old has taken over my life for the last few years.
My son bought Shovel Knight for me this past Christmas and I have split my time between it and Breath of the Wild. It's taking me forever on Breath
Nintendo (Score:3)
Nintendo hates developing new consoles. They're still angry they couldn't keep the Game Boy going up to this point.
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CAT Scans of the Switch are cool (Score:5, Interesting)
Profit (Score:3)
Nintendo makes more profit off of its consoles than XBox and Sony. In fact, if I remember correctly, XBox was sold at a loss to Microsoft for some generations. So not only is Nintendo making money off of licenses, online memberships, etc, like its competitors, but on the hardware as well.
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In fact, if I remember correctly, XBox was sold at a loss to Microsoft for some generations.
not unique to xbox.
somewhat often, console hardware is sold at a loss, esp. original model hardware.
sony, ms, and nintendo have all sold consoles at a loss at some point.
I'm still holding out (Score:2)
for the new switch, I don't want to buy two.
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Isn't the OLED switch already widely available again? Once the holiday rush ended in mid-January it was available pretty much everywhere.
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I want the 4k switch
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Well there's really no guarantee that such a thing will exist and maintain compatibility with existing games.
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Exactly, that's why I want to buy 4k games
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I'm happy with mine (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm an older adult (my first "new" console at home was the original Nintendo) who didn't really game or buy new consoles for years.
We finally got a Switch for my wife because she wanted to play Animal Crossing. Then I had to buy one. I think I can understand its appeal.
Yes, other consoles have better graphics, but this is only $300. It's cheap for a modern console, and it has fun decent games like Animal Crossing, Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, etc. Just the perfect thing if you want to waste an hour or so in the evening.
I know other consoles have better graphics, but do they have games that appeal to me more? Not really.
Re:I'm happy with mine (Score:5, Insightful)
The sneaky best thing about the Switch is how you can play for a little bit, then put the machine to sleep while you do whatever adult-related tasks are required, then come back to things hours later and instantly resume the game. I am probably about your age and had written off video games once I had a kid and actual responsibilities. The Switch fits in with my life perfectly.
Hybrid over graphics (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't care if console or PC versions of games have better graphics. The portability of the Switch and the namesake ability to seamlessly "switch" between docked/TV and handheld is killer. I thought I'd play almost exclusively docked and just wanted an HD console (the Wii U never existed). But a hybrid device is that thing you didn't realize you wanted until you have it. And when you dock it and get full power at 1080p on a big screen TV with a game where the devs actually put in the optimization effort... that little Tegra CPU has no business looking that amazing.
At this point, the only games I'll consider buying on PC are the ones not available on Switch at all. If it's available on the Switch, that's the way I'm getting it, graphical compromises be damned.
Re:Hybrid over graphics (Score:4, Interesting)
pretty much this, being able to go from docked to handheld is great. The 'real' consoles are at a point where it's kind of silly to not simply just play computer games anyways in terms of horsepower; and if you have kids, the switch is a no-brainer.
I know it's completely subjective, but games like BOTW 'work' better than a lot of high end games going for the photorealistic effect. reminds me of WoW vs everquest 2 back in 2005 or so. Art, done properly at a lower pixel count isn't that big of a deal -- and it completely sidesteps that uncanny valley effect you get from a lot of games, such as one that may or may not be named cyberpunk