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Nintendo Switch family sell-through exceeds 10M units in Japan

ggx2ac

ggx2ac

Sales Heaven or Sales Hell?
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,504

Google translate of press release:

Nintendo Switch family (Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite) it is announced that the cumulative sales volume (selling) in Japan has exceeded 10 million units as of November 3 * .

The Nintendo Switch released in March 2017 has three play modes: "TV mode", "Table mode", and "Mobile mode". Even though it is a stationary game machine, "anytime, anywhere, with anyone" Enjoy the game. In September 2019, Nintendo Switch Lite became a new companion to Nintendo Switch Lite, a small, light, and easy-to-carry mobile phone that can be selected according to your lifestyle. .

On November 15, 2019, we plan to release the latest "Pocket Monster" series "Pocket Monster Sword Shield" to further expand the gaming experience of Nintendo Switch. Going forward, we will strive to further spread the Nintendo Switch family.

* Our investigation
_______________________
Edit:

A reminder that sell-in of Switch hardware in Japan was at 10M units at the end of September in 2019.

This milestone is the sell-through of over 10M units on November 3rd, 2019.
 
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bananas

bananas

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,857
"Going forward, we will strive to further spread the Nintendo Switch family."

Gross.
 
Ex-Psych

Ex-Psych

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,321
If it was called the Bintendo Switch it wouldn't have sold as much.
 
Dr. Mario

Dr. Mario

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,873
Netherlands
This is honestly not that impressive. It was going to sell to everyone in Japan anyway. Once everyone in Japan has bought one, sales will fall off a cliff.


Seems like only yesterday that Switch surpassed PS4's 8 million. SwSh SwSh Bsh Switch Lite version must have sold a ton.
 
Cudpug

Cudpug

Member
Nov 9, 2017
3,556
Makes me so happy to see Nintendo bounce back with the Switch. So many great and inventive new IPs from them in the two years it's on the market (Arms, Labo, Ring Fit etc.) that make you play games in different ways. Successful and experimental Nintendo is best Nintendo.
 
Maxina

Maxina

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,308
Dr. Mario said:
This is honestly not that impressive. It was going to sell to everyone in Japan anyway. Once everyone in Japan has bought one, sales will fall off a cliff.


Seems like only yesterday that Switch surpassed PS4's 8 million. SwSh SwSh Bsh Switch Lite version must have sold a ton.
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NINTENDOOM by the Mustached man himself.
 
Estarossa

Estarossa

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,302
There really is no point in releasing the PS5 and Nextbox in Japan next gen. The Nintendominance is getting out of control over there.
 
kirbyfan407

kirbyfan407

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,114
Wow, I didn't realize it was close to hitting that milestone. I'm glad Nintendo is seeing success.

mazi said:
crazy impressive, and this is before pokemon and animal crossing.
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Yeah. Switch Lite + those two games are probably going to really push this system forward (assuming the market isn't saturated already; I haven't been following the Japanese sales recently).
 
Raijinto

Raijinto

self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
10,091
Wonder if this will be the biggest Nov-March period for Switch in Japan, with Lite, Pokemon, Animal Crossing and of course TMS now edited edition.

But seriously congrats.
 
ByteCulture

ByteCulture

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
706
ggx2ac said:

Google translate of press release:

Nintendo Switch family (Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite) it is announced that the cumulative sales volume (selling) in Japan has exceeded 10 million units as of November 3 * .

The Nintendo Switch released in March 2017 has three play modes: "TV mode", "Table mode", and "Mobile mode". Even though it is a stationary game machine, "anytime, anywhere, with anyone" Enjoy the game. In September 2019, Nintendo Switch Lite became a new companion to Nintendo Switch Lite, a small, light, and easy-to-carry mobile phone that can be selected according to your lifestyle. .

On November 15, 2019, we plan to release the latest "Pocket Monster" series "Pocket Monster Sword Shield" to further expand the gaming experience of Nintendo Switch. Going forward, we will strive to further spread the Nintendo Switch family.

* Our investigation
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Best Nintendo console in a long time. I normally dont like Handhelds but the Switch cured me. Absolutely love it. And the Third Party output is insane.
 
Lugia

Lugia

Member
Oct 27, 2017
479
AniHawk said:
sell-in for the americas was 16.64m at the end of september. considering the sell-in in japan was at 10m at that point, the us sales are probably somewhere between 14m and 15m.
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This is amazing, and I would not be surprised if it surpasses its competitors overall sales in the U.S eventually.

Thank you for the answer.
 
Jon Carter

Jon Carter

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,746
Cudpug said:
Makes me so happy to see Nintendo bounce back with the Switch. So many great and inventive new IPs from them in the two years it's on the market (Arms, Labo, Ring Fit etc.) that make you play games in different ways. Successful and experimental Nintendo is best Nintendo.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Well, it's not really a case of bouncing back in Japan. The Switch is selling a lot slower than the 3DS, though obviously much faster than the Wii U. But software sales are great and it's more expensive. Just not confident it's going to ever reach the 3DS in Japan.
 

Deleted member 10737

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
49,774
i think by the end of its life it'll become the 4th best selling console of all time in japan, behind DS, GB/GBC and 3DS.
 

tabino

Member
Jan 21, 2018
11
"Nintendo Switch Lite, a small, light, and easy-to-carry mobile phone"

I guess google translator is not up to speed
 

Deleted member 10737

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
49,774
tabino said:
"Nintendo Switch Lite, a small, light, and easy-to-carry mobile phone"

I guess google translator is not up to speed
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you'll be able to text people on switch lite once tokyo mirage sessions is released :)

carlosrox said:
It's funny I remember during the N64 and GC era Japan didn't seem to give a shit about Nintendo.
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during those generations they were buying a shit ton of game boy and game boy advance. since the famicom, there hasn't been any period of time where nintendo wasn't big in japan.
 
Andri

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
Aostia82 said:
Any comparison with other consoles able to hit this milestone in Japan?
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PSP was much slower, at less than 6 million launch aligned, but managed to hit almost 20m lifetime.
3DS hit 10M much faster, about 42 weeks faster launch aligned, and managed about 25 million lifetime.
Wii managed 12m lifetime, but took 168 weeks to hit 10m, compared to switches 139.
DS managed 33m lifetime, and took just 87 weeks to hit 10m.
PS2 hit 22m lifetime, and hit 10m about 9 weeks earlier.
PS3 hit 10.3m lifetime, and took about 472 weeks to hit 10m(about end of 2014).
GBA took 177 weeks to hit 10m and ended up around 17m lifetime.

Other consoles to exceed 10m are too old so we dont have data to determine when they hit 10m.

All around, Switch is faster than PSP, Wii, PS3 and GBA, on par-ish with PS2 and slower than 3DS and DS.

I think Switch will easily surpass GBA, and PSP and with the right revision plans could outsell the massive 3DS installbase.
DS and GB are monsters that wont be beaten by anything ever i think, just dont see Japan as a market buying 30m+ of any console/handheld ever again.
 
z0m3le

z0m3le

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,418
Historic sales breakdown

Lifetime sales of Japan's best selling platforms:
1. DS 32.99 Million units
2. Gameboy/Color 32.47 Million units
3. 3DS 25.22 Million units
4. Sony PS2 21.45 Million units
5. Sony PSP 19.63 Million units
6. NES 19.35 Million units
7. PS1 18.85 Million units
8. SNES 17.17 Million units
9. GBA 16.96 Million units
10. Wii 12.75 Million units
11. PS3 10.47 Million units
12. Switch 10 Million units
13. PS4 8.46 Million units

Switch should beat PS3 around Pokemon's launch in week 46 this year.
Switch should beat Wii before summer next year and break into the top 10.

Compared by time to hit 10 Million:
Nintendo DS 61 Weeks
Nintendo 3DS 98 Weeks
Nintendo GBA <<< 154 Weeks (couldn't find data on this, but GBA was at 11.64 Million by Week 154)
Sony PS2 131 Weeks
Nintendo Switch 137 Weeks
Nintendo Wii 170 Weeks
Sony PSP 193 weeks
 
Jawmuncher

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,506
Ibis Island
hussien-11 said:
:P

I'm surprised that RE is seemingly doing better in Japan than other places. RE5 and RE6 are 6th and 7th on Japanese eShop, while they are not charting at all in the US.
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Japan is a big about their RE Classic Characters, there seems to be less care over there about what style the game is so long as it has the fan favorites.
 
z0m3le

z0m3le

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,418
Andri said:
PSP was much slower, at less than 6 million launch aligned, but managed to hit almost 20m lifetime.
3DS hit 10M much faster, about 42 weeks faster launch aligned, and managed about 25 million lifetime.
Wii managed 12m lifetime, but took 168 weeks to hit 10m, compared to switches 139.
DS managed 33m lifetime, and took just 87 weeks to hit 10m.
PS2 hit 22m lifetime, and hit 10m about 9 weeks earlier.
PS3 hit 10.3m lifetime, and took about 472 weeks to hit 10m(about end of 2014).
GBA took 177 weeks to hit 10m and ended up around 17m lifetime.

Other consoles to exceed 10m are too old so we dont have data to determine when they hit 10m.

All around, Switch is faster than PSP, Wii, PS3 and GBA, on par-ish with PS2 and slower than 3DS and DS.

I think Switch will easily surpass GBA, and PSP and with the right revision plans could outsell the massive 3DS installbase.
DS and GB are monsters that wont be beaten by anything ever i think, just dont see Japan as a market buying 30m+ of any console/handheld ever again.
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Probably different trackers why our numbers are off.

I do think 3DS sales are possible on Switch, mainly because it is seeing yoy growth, while 3DS peaked very early in it's life. I do think Switch has a path to becoming the best selling system in Japan, but it depends on how Nintendo handles future devices, if they remain iterative performance upgrades like a PS4 Pro and then a PS4 Pro 2 rather than succeeding it with a new platform, Nintendo could achieve 30 Million+ sales.
 
Mbolibombo

Mbolibombo

Member
Oct 29, 2017
7,043
According to Famitsu, Last week LTD was 9.677.510 so it's off a bit if the Switch didnt set Japan on fire this past week.

Nice milestone, onwards to next
 

IamFlying

Alt Account
Banned
Apr 6, 2019
765
Jon Carter said:
Well, it's not really a case of bouncing back in Japan. The Switch is selling a lot slower than the 3DS, though obviously much faster than the Wii U. But software sales are great and it's more expensive. Just not confident it's going to ever reach the 3DS in Japan.
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Launch aligned the Switch hardware sales were behind 3DS, but Switch is way more expensive, so thats to be expected. After all 3DS was in beast mode in Japan after the price cut, but sold slow in the west, unlike Switch which has high sales everywhere.

Anyway in the next quarters Switch will beat 3DS numbers easily. It already has this quarter.
 
Aostia82

Aostia82

Member
Oct 27, 2017
7,366
Andri said:
PSP was much slower, at less than 6 million launch aligned, but managed to hit almost 20m lifetime.
3DS hit 10M much faster, about 42 weeks faster launch aligned, and managed about 25 million lifetime.
Wii managed 12m lifetime, but took 168 weeks to hit 10m, compared to switches 139.
DS managed 33m lifetime, and took just 87 weeks to hit 10m.
PS2 hit 22m lifetime, and hit 10m about 9 weeks earlier.
PS3 hit 10.3m lifetime, and took about 472 weeks to hit 10m(about end of 2014).
GBA took 177 weeks to hit 10m and ended up around 17m lifetime.

Other consoles to exceed 10m are too old so we dont have data to determine when they hit 10m.

All around, Switch is faster than PSP, Wii, PS3 and GBA, on par-ish with PS2 and slower than 3DS and DS.

I think Switch will easily surpass GBA, and PSP and with the right revision plans could outsell the massive 3DS installbase.
DS and GB are monsters that wont be beaten by anything ever i think, just dont see Japan as a market buying 30m+ of any console/handheld ever again.
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thank you very much.
I think that it will be able to beat PS2 sales, falling short against the 3DS.
 
Andri

Andri

Member
Mar 20, 2018
6,017
Switzerland
z0m3le said:
Probably different trackers why our numbers are off.

I do think 3DS sales are possible on Switch, mainly because it is seeing yoy growth, while 3DS peaked very early in it's life. I do think Switch has a path to becoming the best selling system in Japan, but it depends on how Nintendo handles future devices, if they remain iterative performance upgrades like a PS4 Pro and then a PS4 Pro 2 rather than succeeding it with a new platform, Nintendo could achieve 30 Million+ sales.
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I used Gamesdata library data to calculate the days between launch and hitting 10m.
I think my PS2 numbers are wrong though, since there i eyeballed the 10m from a chart instead of looking up the exact week it hit 10m.

Agree with you on the 3DS stuff, it did peak early, switch should start outpacing it relatively soon, if not this holiday season already.

On hitting 30m the only way i see that happen is if they stick to the switch family for the next 10 years, releasing an incremental upgrade every 3 years, something like Switch Pro 2020, then Switch V2022 in 2022, Switch V2022 Pro and so forth.
Basically adopting a slightly longer mobile lifecycle.
 
z0m3le

z0m3le

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,418
Andri said:
I used Gamesdata library data to calculate the days between launch and hitting 10m.
I think my PS2 numbers are wrong though, since there i eyeballed the 10m from a chart instead of looking up the exact week it hit 10m.

Agree with you on the 3DS stuff, it did peak early, switch should start outpacing it relatively soon, if not this holiday season already.

On hitting 30m the only way i see that happen is if they stick to the switch family for the next 10 years, releasing an incremental upgrade every 3 years, something like Switch Pro 2020, then Switch V2022 in 2022, Switch V2022 Pro and so forth.
Basically adopting a slightly longer mobile lifecycle.
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Yep, my numbers were media create, Nintendo announced/Sony announced.

That is exactly what I think Nintendo needs to do with the Switch, a Switch V2 next FY, between Fall 2020 and the end of March 2021, and Switch V3 between Fall 2023 and the end of march 2024.

Moving to 7nm with Nvidia next year allows them to do this and Nvidia has a long term contract in place with Nintendo from what people have been saying, that is something you wouldn't do if you weren't looking to evolve a platform over a long period of time. With Nvidia saying their partnership could last 20 years, I think they both have plans, especially when that was said before Switch became the success that it was, and insiders talking about how Switch was just a test, that they will invest more in the Switch platform going forward.

2023 allows for the possibility of 3nm technology being used, and just 3 years after next gen launches, really could give a Nintendo Switch form factor, a lot of power behind it.

This seems to make sense for Nintendo too, as they don't chase the cutting edge, but want a niche that only they can hold. I think a hybrid platform is something out of the big 3, that only Nintendo can really pull off, because if Sony released a hybrid that was weaker than the PS4 or couldn't play PS5 games, it would really confuse their branding. I don't think Sony would jeopardize their 100M sales they have had on most of their consoles, and Microsoft is looking towards services more than hardware platforms.
 
T002 Tyrant

T002 Tyrant

Member
Nov 8, 2018
8,973
"Spread the Switch family further" like butter on toast.... Pro and/or Home edition (or further revisions) confirmed for the future? Or do they mean with software sales?
 

Celine

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,030
carlosrox said:
It's funny I remember during the N64 and GC era Japan didn't seem to give a shit about Nintendo.
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That's not what happened.
The japanese audience still cared about Nintendo games and bought them in good quantities.
The problem was that every japanese third-parties coalesced around PlayStation and basically became a battle between Nintendo and the rest of the industry (a one vs many scenario).
This scenario was especially exacerbated in Japan where there was a stronger "winner takes all" mentality.

To back up what I'm saying, here the Top 10 best selling games for PS1, N64 and SAT in Japan for Famitsu (note that PS1 had about 4 times the install base of N64 and that N64 and Saturn had roughly the same install base):
PS1
NX91on4.jpg


N64
w2jRVUl.jpg


SAT
t8WzWeU.jpg


Nowadays the situation has radically changed because of two factors:
- Nintendo has changed its console strategy to better take advantage of its strengths.
- There was a general decline in the japanese third-party software sales.

Top 10 best selling games for NSW and PS4 in Japan for Famitsu (note that NSW and PS4 has comparable install base as of now but the difference in install base between NSW and PS4 is set to grow wider with time):
NSW
ljkeYB0.jpg


PS4:
dLPfu1U.jpg


Famitsu sales data taken from:

EDIT:
Don't take too seriously Famitsu's digital sales "estimates".
 
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