Despite the uncertainty posed by the economic troubles of 2020, Nintendo appears to be on a roll, thanks in part to the wonderful performance of the Nintendo Switch in the market, which is seeing its greatest October sales, yet.
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At 735,000 units sold combining both the regular Switch and the Switch Lite, the hybrid console displays a 136% year-on-year growth. For Nintendo, this is tantamount to an unexpected increase in revenue by half. That’s a number coming from the original forecast of 300 billion Yen that instead led to 450 billion Yen.
In a report by NPD, it claims that the Switch’s market performance is a historical record. Essentially, following the same feat that of Nintendo’s other prized product, the Wii, back in 2008.
The 2017 console still has miles to go to topple Nintendo’s best-selling platform of all time. However, it did surpass that of NES’, which is the company’s entry point into the home entertainment space in 1983.
Bowser speaks
Nintendo’s top brass are unquestionably the ones to celebrate this level of success the most. Yet, nobody is more elated to the achievement perhaps than Nintendo of America’s president, Doug Bowser, who displays his optimism through a quote.
“Seeing encouraging sales growth like this in the fourth October of Nintendo Switch proves to us that the system has many more years and great games to come”.
True enough, part of the Nintendo Switch’s feat as a gaming platform is partially only for its hardware. The other fraction of its success is owed by its blockbuster titles, like Animal Crossing: New Horizons, that also pushed sales.
New competitions arise
As of writing, the Nintendo Switch is currently holding the title of the best-selling console for 23-straight months. That is vis-à-vis the likes of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. However, it’s a title that it must do best to hold firmly considering the debut of both Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles. Presences that undeniably could threaten the video game platform’s position moving forward.
While the excitement over both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S boils down to their faster hardware, the Switch’s selling power is hardly in its technical capability. Even when compared against previous-gen consoles, the Nintendo gaming platform remains the underdog of processing power.
However, time and time again, since the days of the Wii, the company proves that its platform’s offering is about innovation rather than horsepower. Something which Nintendo had indeed shown through groundbreaking features that subsequently kickstarted a trend to the competition.
Image used courtesy of Nintendo/YouTube Screenshot