Following the poor performance of the Wii U,
Nintendo had another chance to redeem its image
as one of the leading video game companies
with the Nintendo Switch.
Released in 2017 the Switch is now
one of the most popular consoles in the World.
Just after four years on store shelves,
the Nintendo Switch has sold more than 89 million units!
Compared to the Wii U,
the Switch performed six times better.
So that begs the question,
how did a company that was struggling to sell 13 million units over its lifetime
manage to sell more than 89 million units
in just 4 years?
There are many reasons for the Nintendo Switch’s success.
First of all Nintendo is known for its outside-the-box innovations,
and has released many suprising and completely different consoles over the years.
The Switch is no different,
and is regarded as the world’s first major hybrid console.
Meaning it can be used as a handheld
and as a home console.
Whether you’re on a plane,
in bed, or maybe on the toilet seat,
Nintendo Switch is a console you can enjoy at all times.
This also means it targets a wide audience
with both handheld and home console gamers.
When players are at home they can enjoy their favorite games on a large TV screen,
and when they go out it allows them to continue playing.
Of course other consoles have tried to do the same.
For example the PlayStation has PS Remote Play,
where players can continue their games on multiple devices,
but it comes nowhere close to the simplicity of the Nintendo Switch.
Of course, like any other console the games are also incredibly important.
While Xbox and PlayStation sell many of the same games,
which are often targeted to more hardcore gamers.
Nintendo has its own library of exclusive games,
which are more focused on fun and playing games together
either physically or in multiplayer mode,
like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Super Mario Party
and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
This means the target audience is much larger than just the hardcore gamers.
From young kids to grandma,
anyone from can enjoy the Nintendo games.
Nintendo also has some of the best franchises that are loved by countless fans around the world,
including the incredible Zelda games
like The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
and of course The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,
which was released on the same day as the Switch
and has since been cited as one of the greatest games of all time.
Pokémon, with Pokémon Sword and Shield
And Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu.
And there are of course the Mario games,
including Super Mario Odyssey and many others.
The Switch now also has more 3rd Party support
compared to many previous Nintendo consoles.
You could argue that this may be the best 3rd party console since the SNES,
with many great titles like Doom: Eternal
Monster Hunter Rise
The Witcher 3
And Minecraft.
The Switch was also cheaper at launch,
with a price tag of $300 dollars,
compared to the PlayStation 4 that had a launch price of $400 dollars
and the Xbox One that was even $500 dollars.
During the Corona pandemic,
the Switch became even more appealing,
since people where forced to stay at home.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was released during the beginning of the pandemic
and seemed to be the perfect game to be enjoyed at that time,
even for people who had no previous experience with games.
In the game players can enjoy a somewhat “normal life”
that happened to coincide with one of the strangest times in human history due to the pandemic.
Since so many people wanted to have a Switch
and since Nintendo was unable to produce more of these consoles,
a huge shortage resulted,
where buying a Switch became even more difficult than buying toilet paper.
A much cheaper model of the Nintendo Switch was released in 2019
with the handheld-only Nintendo Switch lite.
Till the end of 2020 Nintendo had already sold 13.5 million units of the Switch Lite,
that is about the same number as Wii U consoles were sold in total.
And on October 8 of this year, 2021,
the OLED model will be released.
Now you can enjoy your trips to the toilet with an even wider screen,
since this model will have a 7-inch OLED screen.
This model is expected to increase sales even further
and in many places pre-orders are already sold out.
There are also some highly anticipated Switch games that will also help to boost sales,
including Metroid Dread
Pokémon Legends Arceus
And of course the sequel to Breath of the Wild.
Let’s hope this will be just as epic as the original.
Oh, and I want to be able to pet the dogs this time.
While Nintendo already sold 89 million Switch units,
I have no doubt they will continue to sell,
and probably surpass the 100 million mark very soon.
Let me know what you think of shorter videos like this one,
and please subscribe if you haven’t already!
Thank you!