One fifth of new Nintendo Switch owners are repeat buyers

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: Nintendo’s Switch continues to sell like gangbusters despite the handheld console having recently entered its fifth year on the market. As it turns out, there are a couple of reasons for the system’s sustained success, and Nintendo’s favorable forecast for the current fiscal year ending March 2022.

In a Q&A session during Nintendo’s recent financial results conference call, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said Animal Crossing: New Horizons drove hardware sales in the first half of the previous fiscal quarter, adding that Nintendo believes they “need to take this temporary effect into consideration.”

Furukawa also pointed to strong hardware and software sales during the January – March period of the previous fiscal year as another indicator to help with its guidance. But it was the executive’s comments about repeat buyers that were arguably the most interesting.

In the previous fiscal year, Furukawa said, household demand for multiple systems accounted for roughly 20 percent of Switch sales. Given that Nintendo sold 28.83 million systems last year, a fifth of that works out to roughly 5.8 million units.

Nintendo said in 2019 that some households had already purchased multiple consoles, but this is the first time we’ve heard any solid figures.

Nintendo’s Switch is arguably one of the better success stories in recent memory. Despite the rise in popularity of smartphone gaming as well as Sony's and Microsoft’s focus on powerful home consoles, Nintendo believed there was a market for a hybrid home / portable console and launched the Switch in March 2017. Ever since, sales have impressed, thanks in part to solid hardware and a very strong catalog of intellectual property.

Image credit Dr. Victor Wong, BlurryMe

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89745-one-fifth-new-nintendo-switch-owners-repeat-buyers.html

 

[Adhmuz]

Nintendo's intellectual property is the sole reason their hardware sells, people are drawn to this IP generation after generation. Be it nostalgia for those who played the games on previous consoles, ease of access of picking it up and enjoying the simplicity, or the kid friendly titles and lack of toxic online environments. Nintendo has a great device and will milk it for as long as they can.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

I’m just glad I can see Switch on Walmart shelves.

The Lite version really made the most sense and helped supply meet demand.

 

[Scshadow]

The switch has spent more time out of stock then in stock. I think the statistic here could be skewed. Scalpers will buy multiple consoles so who is to say the buyers are actually the players? But yeah, I'm sure every kid wants their own like its a gameboy though. I'm just saying number is probably skewed.

 

[GamerNerves]

Switch is technically and design wise an impressive console and the upcoming revision will make it even better, but let's be honest, Switch is for kids and their families. Perhaps particularly Japanese like to play on the go, but when I'm out, I never play anything. For the vast majority, in the end, it is not important to play video games outside your home. Switch sells because kids can play it without television and playing some of the platform's games is practically exercising (which is good!). Also family friendly games with local multiplayer are always beneficial.

I'd say Switch is Nintendo's greatest console ever, because compared to Wii, it has managed to get many multiplatform titles ported on it, while with Wii you were stuck with the rather lame catalogue. At the same time you can play many classic retro games on Switch and have those innovative controllers and mobility.
This said, let's not pretend some oldeboy who has always enjoyed the most immersive computer or console games would gain much from those exclusive games of Switch. Nintendo nailed it, but a keen gamer like me will not rejoice over it.

 

[Reehahs]

I wonder if the repeat sales of Switch Lite are due to faulty embedded Joy-Cons?

 

[Watzupken]

Switch is technically and design wise an impressive console and the upcoming revision will make it even better, but let's be honest, Switch is for kids and their families. Perhaps particularly Japanese like to play on the go, but when I'm out, I never play anything. For the vast majority, in the end, it is not important to play video games outside your home. Switch sells because kids can play it without television and playing some of the platform's games is practically exercising (which is good!). Also family friendly games with local multiplayer are always beneficial.

I'd say Switch is Nintendo's greatest console ever, because compared to Wii, it has managed to get many multiplatform titles ported on it, while with Wii you were stuck with the rather lame catalogue. At the same time you can play many classic retro games on Switch and have those innovative controllers and mobility.
This said, let's not pretend some oldeboy who has always enjoyed the most immersive computer or console games would gain much from those exclusive games of Switch. Nintendo nailed it, but a keen gamer like me will not rejoice over it.

I feel Wii started a revolution in a sense that the games are simple, fun and interactive, thus, great for people across all ages even if you are not a gamer. For example in Wii Sports, you just pick up the Wii mote and in most mini games, you will just intuitively be able to play it. Nintendo Switch builds on that formula and made the console mobile. In my experience and opinion, its always the 1st party titles or some exclusive titles that is worth playing on both the Wii and Nintendo Switch. Multiplatform titles are nice to have, but I generally won't recommend them because they run very badly on these underpowered consoles. Of third party titles, I've only kept Diablo 3 because it is nice to be able to play the game on the go, and without the dumb restriction where Battlenet must be up on the PC. I certainly won't want to play a demanding game like Witcher 3 because while its possible, it runs just borderline good enough at a low resolution and FPS (which may dip below 30 FPS). Worst of all, games like Overwatch where high FPS is critical is also running at low resolution at 30 FPS. So most of these 3rd party titles are nice to have, but I don't think it will appeal to most gamers.