Nintendo plans to sell over 20 million Switch units this year

[IAmAndre]

So I've been reading an interview of the CEO of Nintendo France and found it particularly interesting. The interview is in French, but here are the best parts:

 

- As a reminder, Nintendo first expected to sell 10 million Switch units in 2017/2018, but are now planning on selling 14 million (the 2017/2018 fiscal period ends in April). That's a big jump considering the facts that they only managed to sell 13.5 million Wii U units in 4 years.

 

Quote

To date, the Switch is the best selling console on the French market. (...)  44 weeks after launch (from March to December 31st 2017), the Switch has sold 911 000 units, the Wii had sold 703 000, and Sony's PS4 650 000 units. We are currently the first console manufacturer in France with 1.418 million consoles sold. That's 78% growth in volume and 190% growth of in gross income compared to 2016. 

- He talked a lot about the fact that Nintendo is also the best selling editor in France, and the fact that third party editors such as EA and Ubisoft are now happy to develop games on their platform. There are actually a lot of expectations with FIFA because of the world cup next summer (being able to play FIFA on the go could be a game changer).

 

- The 3DS is also selling well and the numbers are not affected by the Switch, since the audience isn't really the same. They sold over 5 million units, and the large game library helps.

 

- Now my two favorite parts. Retro gaming and VR/4K. We all remember the lack of availability of their NES and SNES consoles. They actually produced 110.000 NES units, which got sold out. They didn't want to make the same mistake with the SNES and produced the double, 220.000 units, which also got sold out. Therefore, they potentially lost a lot of money due to the "low" productions, as he says.

 

About 4K and VR :

Quote

We are very pragmatic. If you look at VR helmets, I have doubts about their ability to seduce the greatest number. And consumers are not patient with entertainment if you are not able to offer them a complete solution. As for 4K, should we invest in a technology that is not widely adopted? Where are the 4K screens today? Should we invest before the consumer has adopted the technology? We can not invest everywhere. And what will be new compared to competitors? If we do the same thing as others, we are doomed to die because we are smaller than them. With the Switch, we have the merit of proposing different uses adapted to the rhythm of users' lives. Its interest is to be able to fit into your daily life. The use of video games becomes less exceptional.

I really like this approach. Nintendo has never been about raw power and cutting edge technology, it's more about providing a great gaming experience. This turns into sales numbers for them. In conclusion, rather than investing on more expensive hardware, they are currently on top of the sales because they used basically some 30-year old hardware to make retro-consoles and still managed to sell 300.000+ units, used their licenses and manage to turn the Switch into a success by releasing these strong titles at the right time. That's really good work by Nintendo and I can't wait to see what they do in 2018. I just wish the Switch had more multimedia features, with YouTube/Netflix support.

 

Source: https://www.lesnumeriques.com/loisirs/switch-retrogaming-super-mario-zelda-l-incroyable-come-back-nintendo-a3491.html

[flibberdipper]

Clearly the Switch has shit going its way, because even my dad is on the fence about getting one, and he rather disliked the Wii and Wii U because he felt they were gimmicky.

[Donut417]

I might be one of those 20 Million, Im thinking of picking one up. Not sure if Ill do it now or wait for Pokemon. 

[ThreePinkApples]

Note that it's the 2018 Fiscal year, not 2018 the year. So from April 2018 to March 2019. Their current goal is 14mill for FY2017, so by the end of March 2018.

So if they're reaching their goal of 14mill for FY2017 (which it looks like), it's not unreasonable to expect 20mill for FY2018, as the library grows, interest often also grows. 

[Taf the Ghost]

1 hour ago, tmcclelland455 said:

Clearly the Switch has shit going its way, because even my dad is on the fence about getting one, and he rather disliked the Wii and Wii U because he felt they were gimmicky.

The Switch's approach is something of a fascinating. The versatility really appealed well to a lot of people, and the device is powerful enough to run games at an okay FPS at 720p. Though it really, really helps that Nintendo was sitting on an all-time great game as a launch title. That really helped matters.

[flibberdipper]

1 minute ago, Taf the Ghost said:

The Switch's approach is something of a fascinating. The versatility really appealed well to a lot of people, and the device is powerful enough to run games at an okay FPS at 720p. Though it really, really helps that Nintendo was sitting on an all-time great game as a launch title. That really helped matters.

Yep. Between heavy hitters like Mario and Zelda + the added hype behind them for being really good games, and the really cool idea of it being a portable console (which really is a fantastic thing because you can take it on a road trip and keep passengers entertained and then plug it into the TV at the hotel for whole-family fun or whatever).

[suicidalfranco]

still going to wait for the new New Switch or whatever they call it

[Donut417]

Just now, suicidalfranco said:

still going to wait for the new New Switch or whatever they call it

Why? They just released the Switch. I dont expect anything new any time soon. 

 

[Castdeath97]

9 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Why? They just released the Switch. I dont expect anything new any time soon. 

 

They will probably released a refreshed version with better battery life, screen scratch resistance but with the same internals at some point. Sony did this with the PSP and Nintendo did this with the DS and 3DS, I expect the same for the switch.

[IAmAndre]

49 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

The Switch's approach is something of a fascinating. The versatility really appealed well to a lot of people, and the device is powerful enough to run games at an okay FPS at 720p. Though it really, really helps that Nintendo was sitting on an all-time great game as a launch title. That really helped matters.

Actually I thought I was the only person who truly believed in this when they officially announced the console. I remember telling my brother about and he was convinced that this was never going to work. I also remember how the price of Nintendo shares dropped when after the announcement.

[IAmAndre]

3 minutes ago, Castdeath97 said:

They will probably released a refreshed version with better battery life, screen scratch resistance but with the same internals at some point. Sony did this with the PSP and Nintendo did this with the DS and 3DS, I expect the same for the switch.

I wouldn't expect it to come any time soon. Maybe like 2 years after the release of the original Switch. For me, what they really need to improve is its multimedia capability. I already have a high resolution tablet but most people would find it very convenient to be able to books or watch movies/podcasts on their console.

[Taf the Ghost]

27 minutes ago, IAmAndre said:

Actually I thought I was the only person who truly believed in this when they officially announced the console. I remember telling my brother about and he was convinced that this was never going to work. I also remember how the price of Nintendo shares dropped when after the announcement.

It's the classic, "We're Nintendo, we're doing something different" issue. The main issue was the execution. The idea is great, but the idea of "Free Money!" is great as well. It's all about how it could deliver. The Switch is also something of a Japanese Domestic Market idea that they were able to execute enough for a global audience. The hardware inside is just strong enough to be able to do what they needed it to do. They couldn't have pulled the Switch off 3 years ago for the price point it needed to hit.

 

Nintendo also has the weird position where all of those Wii U games they never could sell can be ported over, so they've got a really easy catalog they can build out for fairly cheap. But it does look like the gimmicky aspects to the controllers is mostly a dead note to the game developers. Nintendo puts all sorts of things like that in their devices, and only occasionally do they take off.

[IAmAndre]

53 minutes ago, Taf the Ghost said:

But it does look like the gimmicky aspects to the controllers is mostly a dead note to the game developers. Nintendo puts all sorts of things like that in their devices, and only occasionally do they take off.

I think they realized quite early that their controller wouldn't be adequate, and that's why they quickly released the Pro controller. At this price, I think it's okay to not have an "actual" controller included in the box. Not sure if "okay" is the best word there

[ravenshrike]

1 hour ago, Taf the Ghost said:

But it does look like the gimmicky aspects to the controllers is mostly a dead note to the game developers.

The problem is that the controllers are neither precise enough nor do they communicate well enough with the Switch to be used properly. If they had been able to shrink down the full capabilities of the Wii Plus remote minus the speaker it would be a different matter. 

[Taf the Ghost]

31 minutes ago, ravenshrike said:

The problem is that the controllers are neither precise enough nor do they communicate well enough with the Switch to be used properly. If they had been able to shrink down the full capabilities of the Wii Plus remote minus the speaker it would be a different matter. 

Right. At the mass consumer level, they can just never be precise enough, right along with only the Wii ever being mass adopted. Except for Wii Sports, motion controls have actually been something of an utter failure across the board. Add-ons for things like VR make sense, but they're never going to be the main console's main point. You can't play with motion controls for as long as you can with a normal controller. Finger movement vs arm movement.

 

Still, the ability to switch between console & handheld on the Switch is going to be interesting to watch going forward.

[GoodBytes]

For VR, Nintendo has patented glasses where a Switch like console can slide in, like a  phone, but has the rail system for the Switch.

 

To me, Nintendo has a response to VR ready if they see it picks up, and they can get a Switch revision with a newer Tegra chip that is obviously more powerful, they can release it. Maybe calling it *New* Nintendo Switch, just to continue the confusion story that they did with the 3DS line.

 

But right now, as we speak, they are are no faster Tegra chips that Nintendo can use. All the latest chips are for cars. Based on Nvidia latest statement from seeing how the Switch sales, it would suggest (and hope they will, it would be stupid if they didn't) that they would start to invest in making a non-car version of the Tegra chip again, especially that the Tegra sales are up like never before based on Nvidia financial statements, thanks to Nintendo. Clearly, Nintendo achieved Nvidia initial dream of the Tegra platform.

[BuckGup]

Does the Switch even have any games besides Zelda and Mario Kart? The Wii had infinite games, a majority were bad, but the amount of game studios that were making games was insane

[Donut417]

2 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Does the Switch even have any games besides Zelda and Mario Kart? The Wii had infinite games, a majority were bad, but the amount of game studios that were making games was insane

Skyrim, Doom and Wolfenstien are all on the Switch. Though, from what I was looking at today, its slim ish pickings. At least on Amazon. Not sure whats on their web store. I know stardew valley is on the switch because my friend owns it for the switch. We cant forget the Pokemon game that is coming, Pokemon for the Win. WOOOOOOOO. 

[BuckGup]

1 minute ago, Donut417 said:

Skyrim, Doom and Wolfenstien are all on the Switch. Though, from what I was looking at today, its slim ish pickings. At least on Amazon. Not sure whats on their web store. I know stardew valley is on the switch because my friend owns it for the switch. We cant forget the Pokemon game that is coming, Pokemon for the Win. WOOOOOOOO. 

Yeah no not very enticing 

[Donut417]

Just now, BuckGup said:

Yeah no not very enticing 

Well I was part of the Pokemon generation. To me the most enticing part of the Switch is that its a TV console and its a portable Console in one. Also, it seems Nintendo is drawing in more devs, because before this I never thought Id see Doom on Nintendo hardware. Though I would agree, they need to work a bit on the game library.  

[JoeCoke]

7 hours ago, IAmAndre said:

Nintendo has never been about raw power and cutting edge technology

Okay, I have to correct this because it always bugs me when people say this, just because of how wrong it is. Yeah, that's their philosophy now, but Gamecube and before, they always made a big deal about their power and for good reason, the NES was a pretty big deal, the SNES was more powerful than the genesis, the N64 (storage limitations aside) was a lot more powerful than the PSX, the Gamecube (besides storage yet again) was a good bit more powerful than the PS2 even. The only place where power was never the focus has been with their handhelds. They basically overclocked the Gamecube for the Wii and ever since then they quit caring in that department.

 

Just had to point this out. Not attacking you personally or anything, it's just I see this said so much and this little "rant" has been building and I had to let it out.

[Aeternalis]

I'm definitely going to pick one up after they release smash on it.

[Taf the Ghost]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

For VR, Nintendo has patented glasses where a Switch like console can slide in, like a  phone, but has the rail system for the Switch.

 

To me, Nintendo has a response to VR ready if they see it picks up, and they can get a Switch revision with a newer Tegra chip that is obviously more powerful, they can release it. Maybe calling it *New* Nintendo Switch, just to continue the confusion story that they did with the 3DS line.

 

But right now, as we speak, they are are no faster Tegra chips that Nintendo can use. All the latest chips are for cars. Based on Nvidia latest statement from seeing how the Switch sales, it would suggest (and hope they will, it would be stupid if they didn't) that they would start to invest in making a non-car version of the Tegra chip again, especially that the Tegra sales are up like never before based on Nvidia financial statements, thanks to Nintendo. Clearly, Nintendo achieved Nvidia initial dream of the Tegra platform.

Nintendo has the money to get Nvidia to make a custom SoC for them, though by the time Nintendo goes to replace the Switch, it's likely to be on a 7nm process. Given that the Switch worked, Nintendo will probably go for semi-custom rather than off-the-shelf. The Switch was a risk for Nintendo, but now they know it'll work well. 

[GoodBytes]

32 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Does the Switch even have any games besides Zelda and Mario Kart? The Wii had infinite games, a majority were bad, but the amount of game studios that were making games was insane

Is this a serious question or trolling? The Switch has a great library of games (considering the console is not 1 year old yet)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games

(sort by date, and check the ones released)

 

[Aeternalis]

3 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Is this a serious question or trolling? The Switch has a great library of games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games

(sort by date, and check the ones released)

 

I think he means worthwhile games. The wii had an absurdly large library but the majority was trash.