Nintendo Reports That Switch Is Off To A Great Start

by Matthew Kato on April 27, 2017 at 09:44 AM

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Nintendo has released its financial figures for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2017, and the company is happy to report strong sales of the new Switch console as well as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The Switch (which debuted on March 3) sold 2.74 million units in just under a month on sale, and Breath of the Wild sold 2.76 million copies on Switch and 1.08 million on the Wii U.

This success has led Nintendo to project profits of 45 billion yen ($403.8 million) for the next fiscal year ending on March 31, 2018. Also during that time span the company anticipates selling 10 million Switch consoles.

In other Nintendo news, Nintendo technology and design head Genyo Takeda is retiring after over 40 years at the company. Takeda headed up the design of the Wii, produced the arcade version of Punch-Out!!, and served as the acting representative director (with Shigeru Miyamoto) after the passing of Satoru Iwata.

[Source: Nintendo (1), (2)]

Our Take
Nintendo's forecast of 10 million Switches sold by the end of March next year would already put it within striking distance of the Wii U's 13.56 million units sold worldwide since 2012.

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Comments

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by DarkKilljoke Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 02:49 PM

Hands in the Air
by Gdvsevl Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 03:03 PM

I'm sure comment section warriors will have plenty of bad things to say about the Switch.
by Frib on Fire Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 03:11 PM

Great start, as expected with Zelda, the rest of the year is going to be the part to pay attention to.
by UltiMat3ProDGy07 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 03:15 PM

Actually it's units shipped to retailers, not sold through to consumers which is not the same thing since that doesn't guarantee it will be sold. Besides, if I was Nintendo I would hold off on celebrating until it surpassed thise 13 million since that is the peak number of Nintendo diehards that will always support anything Nintendo abd tge number of Wii U units moved. This way if it surpassed that then it would be a sign of it having reached a wider public, if the Switch stalls around the same numbers as the Wii U there will not be any excuse that can save them. Again, just hold off the celebration for a while there first mionh numbers mean nothing in the wide scheme if things.
by BlitzN Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 03:16 PM

Incoming explanation on what a bad thing this is for Nintendo.... Leading off REZ!!! Batting second Barrak!!!! Followed by JP....
by PrinceHamlet Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 03:17 PM

Good for them. They did fix part of the problem of the WiiU, in that they are making far and way better games, in this case BOTW for it. Much like the Wii came out with a Zelda game and that boosted early sales, so too did the switch. And Mario will help push those sales. But. Without more third party, namely AAA titles, I have concerns about its staying power for the long term. Nintendo will remain a niche console. And that doesnt even mention the supply issues Nintendo has always had in making enough of the consoles. April for instance will likely see a significant dip in Switch sales since there just isnt enough of them right now.
by LetMeGetToACheckpoint Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:02 PM

I'm happy for Nintendo's success and I wish the system well (it's not for me). But 10 million units sold within a year? To me that' a wildly optimistic forecast since it seems that the Switch is a machine for playing Nintendo games.
by ZoMbIEx23x Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:14 PM

I guess we'll see if anything worth owning a switch for comes out. No one is talking about any games on the switch besides Zelda.
by Darth Arterius Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:19 PM

Wonder how many other times a title for a system outsold the system its for. Obviously the Switch will continue to sell as new software is released and BotW will dwindle but its interesting to see how popular Zelda is right now. I personally plan on picking up the Wii U version once I know I'm ready to start playing it.
by AbominationReborn Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:21 PM

I am going to try seeing it through the eyes of Stealth. Nintendo has already sold more units than any Playstation or Microsoft console, especially in Japan where now every citizen owns 3 and each newborn is presented with a new Switch.
by CrusaderForever Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:40 PM

Happy for Nintendo! Just need to get some games launched. It's always slow at first. No big deal. Zelda looks so amazing cannot wait to try it some day when I get my Switch. Hopefully we get some news on a new 2D Metroid game at E3.
by stickmonkey3 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:43 PM

2.74 million units and not a single one in stores.
Mod

by This World Begins Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 04:53 PM

All aboard the Switch train! I'll just be here, waiting for Monster Hunter, and the online plans to be more fleshed out. When those two meet, I will jump in the middle of the sandwich like a slice of cheese.
by Pepito2k9 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 05:01 PM

Now If only there were games to play on it. I've already played and beaten BOTW on the WII U (enjoyed it quite a bit)so there's nothing that's convinced me to buy a Switch at the moment. Give me a good Mario game and Pokémon game and I might be inclined to pick it up (along with Stardew Valley, of course). I still can't get over the controllers though :/
by Rival_M Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 05:22 PM

If they can maintain this pace into June I'll be willing to call this a bona fide success. Until then I'm not convinced that the great sales aren't simply the diehard fans eating up the product. You know, the 13 million of us that own a Wii U... However this IS fantastic evidence Nintendo learned from the Wii U's marketing failure. People I talk to that I don't consider "gamers" know what is, what it does, and what makes it different. That's a win right there.
by Adam H Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 05:41 PM

This is great news for Nintendo. In order for me the buy it, I need to know more about how they are handling Virtual Console, and I need to see a longer list of must plays.
by jmpittman860220 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 05:47 PM

They definitely have done better marketing the Switch. Hopefully they have some big announcements coming at E3 like the rumored Bayonetta 3.
by Flavious50 Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 06:45 PM

I really wish we could stop getting exited about this. This is not surprising, nor should it be. The Wii U was Nindendo's worst home console to date. That doesn't mean that everyone jumped ship, but instead that all of their potential "on-the-fence" buyers for the Wii U waited a console generation. Nintendo capitalized on this by pushing back all of their big software releases for the new system. I think it's VERY important to remember that the Switch's success is built on the decaying corpse of Nintendo's worst system that they are trying desperately to not talk about anymore. There was no salvage operation, just an amputation.

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Nintendo Reports That Switch Is Off To A Great Start