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Switch worldwide sales top 61.44 million, Animal Crossing: New Horizon tops 22.4 million

Daniel Thomas MacInnes

GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
These are highly impressive numbers for Nintendo Switch, and once again we discover the eternal staying power of Nintendo. By continuing to focus their brand as the "family videogame" company, they have proven that they will be successful and highly profitable until...well, until parents stop having children.

There are some critiques of Nintendo that have been raised in this thread, namely that they won't compete directly against Sony and Microsoft, either in terms of hardware power or franchise titles like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. Nintendo is the "kiddie" company and can't play with the big boys. We've been hearing this argument more or less since the beginning. Remember Gameboy versus Lynx? Remember Reggie's cross-country speeches about the Blue Ocean? Remember the DS and Wii?

Experience has proven that Nintendo works best when they follow their own muse, appeal to their family-friendly brand and deliver classic arcade-style videogames. Sony and Microsoft have catered almost exclusively to the adult, "hardcore" crowd, handing children and families over to Nintendo on a golden platter. I'm sure the Big N appreciates the gesture.

The videogame market has grown large enough that companies can focus on one group of consumers. The consumer base is far too diverse for any one brand to appeal to everyone. It's the same with movies, where action blockbusters appeal to different audiences than romantic comedies, character dramas or documentaries. The music industry also offers a great diversity of genres including rock, hip-hop, r&b, jazz and classical.

Nintendo is not failing if they aren't aggressively trying to court the latest Call of Duty sequel. That's not their market. Besides, they did target that specific franchise for years, and the sales results speak for themselves (the Wii CoDs were million-sellers but nowhere near their PS360 cousins, while the Wii U installments tanked). Likewise, Sony and Microsoft isn't going to crumble into dust because they don't have their version of Animal Crossing, Pokemon or Super Mario.

Today's gaming scene is large enough for adult interactive movies like The Last of Us, arcade classics like Mario Kart, family games like Animal Crossing, and casual hits like iOS. There's enough room for $100 million blockbusters and basement-coding indies alike. And that's what you want if you love videogames. We are now living in a world where the PS Vita sells 10-15 million units and is considered a "failure," even though those numbers are greater than most consoles and home computers you grew up playing.
 

noshten

Member
Combining their handheld and console efforts, utilizing their huge library, building relationships with smaller supporters of their ecosystem are the steps Nintendo undertook this gen. From giving Ubisoft or some small Canadian company the use of their IPs, to pushing indies equally to their own AA games. The indie teams behind Overcooked, for example, have already built an audience for the Switch while remaining multiplat and have kept their game relevant through constant updates and great marketing. I don't doubt this game would be more successful than the first mainline Warriors game on the system. Why? because the real winners in the next two years will be those who've been building an audience on the Switch.
I don't think Nintendo can maintain this forever but at the moment they have taken the correct strategy for themselves. When we look at the profit they are making so early into the Switch life with just 60M user base, I can imagine that in the next few years they are going to be on top of the World. For some reason, this always coincides with some of the most depressing times we face, like the Financial Crisis during Wii and DS's days or COVID right now... not sure what it is about them that manages to be a form of escape for both young and old.
Splatoon 3, Breath of the Wild 2 are just two games that I expect to outsell their prior entries. There are also enough franchises that haven't gotten released yet, Donkey Kong, Metroid, Bayo 3, , Mario Kart 9, Tomodachi, Rhythm Heaven, Ring Fit Sports, Style Savvy, Kid Icarus, Wario, Mario Golf, Pikmin and new IPs they could also make. Just because some of these don't appeal to their entire audience doesn't mean they could not find an audience on the Switch and attract new owners. A steady stream of different gameplay experiences is what Nintendo offers you when you purchase a Switch. The support from indies and 3rd parties is nice but they would still be selling a decent amount without them. Hence 87% of their software profit is from their 1st Party. Wanna guess that Fortnite & Minecraft are the next biggest moneymakers. Just not sure if they count MTX towards software profit or they buried them somewhere outside software revenue.
Splatoon started with 4.9M sales, now it's going to do 15M and next time it could be a 30M game if it follows Animal Crossing trajectory. The devs now have had enough time to think about the overall vision for Splatoon 3 and aren't rush like they were previously. While Breath of the Wild 2 will simply sell to a very big audience from the get-go instead of being the game that needed to sell systems during it's launch. The only way these games don't see growth is for them to completely bomb with the audience.
To me, Nintendo's ability to churn out games every year without investing hundreds of millions per game puts them at a huge advantage over everyone who is aiming at rivaling Holywood movies with their game budgets. It makes sense for Rockstar but does it make sense for everyone following Rockstar? Unless you have something like FIFA or Basketball to fall back on, you are in for a rough time.


I could turn out completely wrong and for Microsoft or Sony to end up being dominant but that's how I see things right now.
 

Jeeves

Member
They've suckered so many into buying their console despite having no games. We can expect to see a sharp turnaround when everyone who bought Animal Crossing finally notices that it was a fake game all along, at which point they will demand refunds en masse.

Let's be real, this "console" doesn't even do 4K or have a SSD. It's pathetic, really. Only people in diapers or on life support are buying this, and only because of the pandemic.

This was just another lucky fluke from Nintendo, ha ha ha

F1zpKFQ.jpg
 
Handily beating the 3DS and WiiU sales combined is a damned good sign, and strongly indicates they're expanding their audience again.

Bloody hell, this is going to breeze past the 80m I originally predicted it would sell.

We could well be looking at the first generation where two consoles end up selling over 100m. Fucking wild.
It is mainly selling as potable. All Nintendo handhelds sell high numbers.
 
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Daniel Thomas MacInnes

GAF's Resident Saturn Omnibus
They've suckered so many into buying their console despite having no games. We can expect to see a sharp turnaround when everyone who bought Animal Crossing finally notices that it was a fake game all along, at which point they will demand refunds en masse.

Let's be real, this "console" doesn't even do 4K or have a SSD. It's pathetic, really. Only people in diapers or on life support are buying this, and only because of the pandemic.

This was just another lucky fluke from Nintendo, ha ha ha

F1zpKFQ.jpg


There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.
 

Jeeves

Member
There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.
These are cool numbers to look over, and especially Xbox's even 1000 is a neat bit of trivia. But I do hope you weren't taking my post seriously?
 

Velius

Banned
I'm pretty sure Nintendo has had more operating income than either of the other two for a long time now
 

Velius

Banned
They've suckered so many into buying their console despite having no games. We can expect to see a sharp turnaround when everyone who bought Animal Crossing finally notices that it was a fake game all along, at which point they will demand refunds en masse.

Let's be real, this "console" doesn't even do 4K or have a SSD. It's pathetic, really. Only people in diapers or on life support are buying this, and only because of the pandemic.

This was just another lucky fluke from Nintendo, ha ha ha

F1zpKFQ.jpg

Took me a minute
49519082562_505ab31044_o.gif
 
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hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.

While that’s cool, what percentage of those games are shovelware. Fundamentally there’s a small subset of games that actually matter, just as is the case on PC (the number of asset flips on the Steam store is insane). More games are being made these days because there are fewer barriers but I think sometimes those barriers are necessary to keep crap from flooding stores.
 

Zoro7

Banned
There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.
Have you been onto the Eshop. Like 90% of that 2700 is mobile phone level games. Hardly a fair comparison.
I go months without touching my Switch because of the quality game droughts.
 
There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.

If I sell 3000 packs of poop and 10 packs of food between, is it wrong that people say "he doesnt sell anything but poop"?

All my friends including me, whom bought switch have had the same experience:

Zelda were ok, xenoblade too. Then few ok games, but they are almost all wiiu ports which doesnt count(I have em already).

Then came Avalanche of shitty simple games which drowned gems between them.

So, after launch year none of us have used out switches almost at all.

Nintendo exclusives are boring(mostly), then 95% of 2700 are mobile game level poop, then ports of ps3/4 games run like shit and/or look like shit.

So, while having 2700 games, most are either bad or cant even find the good ones between.

Zelda is kind of only "Nintendo game" I like, and big RPG games + story driven adventures + souls kind of games.

Switch doesnt offer much for me, sadly.

It would be cool machine for games tailored for it, 720p with zelda/xeno quality, instead of thousands simple games and ugly ports.

I guess the lesson is that if you dont like mario, mario kart, luigi, animal crossing etc. = Switch sucks
 
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hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
If I sell 3000 packs of poop and 10 packs of food between, is it wrong that people say "he doesnt sell anything but poop"?

All my friends including me, whom bought switch have had the same experience:

Zelda were ok, xenoblade too. Then few ok games, but they are almost all wiiu ports which doesnt count(I have em already).

Then came Avalanche of shitty simple games which drowned gems between them.

So, after launch year none of us have used out switches almost at all.

Nintendo exclusives are boring(mostly), then 95% of 2700 are mobile game level poop, then ports of ps3/4 games run like shit and/or look like shit.

So, while having 2700 games, most are either bad or cant even find the good ones between.

Zelda is kind of only "Nintendo game" I like, and big RPG games + story driven adventures + souls kind of games.

Switch doesnt offer much for me, sadly.

It would be cool machine for games tailored for it, 720p with zelda/xeno quality, instead of thousands simple games and ugly ports.

I guess the lesson is that if you dont like mario, mario kart, luigi, animal crossing etc. = Switch sucks
If you find Nintendo games boring why did you buy a Switch?

My experience is the opposite. So I bought my Switch this year, having always been a PC gamer since about 96 (before that it was Amstrad CPC464, Atari ST and Amiga). I’m glad we get the Wii U ports, good games trapped on a system that few bought. It saves me having to buy a Wii U to play them. Zelda BOTW is an absolute blast, Mario Odyssey is so much fun I was grinning from ear to ear the whole time, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe Penis is brilliant old school fun, Mario Kart looks gorgeous and plays brilliantly, there’s awesome third party stuff like Golf Story, Astral Chain, Pokemon, Streets Of Rage 4 (multi platform but just feels so good to have it portable for pick up and play fun), etc.
These might not be for you, but they seem to be doing well with everyone else.
 

Codes 208

Member
If it was on Playstation and made by them you would love it
Possibly. Pretty much anything he says on non-playstation threads are shitposts. (Especially anything xbox related)
There are currently over 2,700 videogames available on Nintendo Switch. By comparison, here are the official software counts for previous consoles and home computers (not counting afterlife indie/homebrew titles):

Atari 2600: 526
Atari 8-bit: 515 (approx.)
Commodore: 2,022
ZX Spectrum: 1,728
NES: 715
Super NES: 721
Genesis: 713
Saturn: 1,107
Dreamcast: 620
Xbox: 1,000
Playstation 2: 3,800
Nintendo DS: 1,986
Wii: 1,262

Oh, and none of these systems output in 4K resolution, either.
tbf, how many of those are Eshop shovelware? Pretty much most of them really. Because I know for sure of that list there probably about three dozen noteworthy titles and they’re mainly first party exclusives or third party titles that generally look or play better on another system. I love my switch and all, but the raw numbers is a pretty meh metric when you consider the actual representation of these titles rather than how it looks on paper.
 

martino

Member
You're fake Daniel Jackson , you can't ascend to an ancient with that mentality confusing taste and quality.
 
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22 million!

Nintendo's 1st quarter results for its fiscal year ending March 2021 have revealed some impressive details, including that Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold over 22 million copies, that the Switch has sold over 61 million units, and that Nintendo's net profits year-on-year have grown by over 500%.


Animal Crossing: New Horizons, at 22.4 million units sold, has become the second-best selling Nintendo Switch game behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's 26.74 million. It has surpassed both Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which have sold 19.99 million and 18.60 million units, respectively.
 
"But oh no! Nintendo doesn't know what they're doing!"
"How DARE they not announce more games this year? They're clearly behind Sony and Microsoft!"
"That's it! They're going bankrupt!"

According to some people here...

Yeah everyone on the internet has an opinion on what Nintendo "needs to do". The truth is they just need to show up and they win.
 
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Vawn

Banned
I don't get it. I tried so hard. I'm a huge Switch fan, so I thought there was something about Animal Crossing that I was missing and I would understand after playing.

Nope. Shit is as dumb as it looks in pictures.
 

Arkam

Member
That's impressive! I mean I am a self described Nintendo fanboy and didnt even consider picking it up. Might hazard a guess that it was a lot of "blue ocean" sales. Have to love Nintendo's random successes. They are rarely what you expect it to come from. Thats either mad skill or insane luck lol
 

Jeeves

Member
I don't get it. I tried so hard. I'm a huge Switch fan, so I thought there was something about Animal Crossing that I was missing and I would understand after playing.

Nope. Shit is as dumb as it looks in pictures.
To anyone feeling iffy about Animal Crossing like this person was: if the premise alone didn't excite you, you probably aren't gonna like it.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I don't get it. I tried so hard. I'm a huge Switch fan, so I thought there was something about Animal Crossing that I was missing and I would understand after playing.

Nope. Shit is as dumb as it looks in pictures.
What not to get exactly!? not every game meant to appeal to everybody, I don't find games like Fortnite or Overwatch appealing but others liked it, thats just how it is.
 

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
Yeah everyone on the internet has an opinion on what Nintendo "needs to do". The truth is they just need to show up and they win.
The truth is Nintendo needs to be themselves, and play to their strengths.

A lot of people have wanted Nintendo to go mature, and just trust the status quo. Animal Crossing shows that such things aren't necessary, at all.

Just be yourself and do it well.
 

Vawn

Banned
What not to get exactly!? not every game meant to appeal to everybody, I don't find games like Fortnite or Overwatch appealing but others liked it, thats just how it is.

There are games I dont like, but I get why people do. Then, there's Animal Crossing.
 

carlosrox

Banned
Not sure why you bought a Switch if you feel this way. No matter what anyone says, the primary draw of any Nintendo console is that it's a piece of hardware that you can play Nintendo games on. Everything else is secondary. You're free to not be a fan, but it does make me wonder why you did this to yourself.

I think people buy (or say they buy) Nintendo consoles just so they can bitch how it "doesn't have any games for them", meaning WHERE ARE ALL THE DOPE MATOOR SHOOTING GAMES AND FIFA!
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
There are games I dont like, but I get why people do. Then, there's Animal Crossing.
Again, YOU might not see the appeal but others do. I can’t never see the appeal of games like Fallout or Elder Scroll but others do, people have different taste, that’s all.
 

RCU005

Member
WOW, the Switch will get to 100 million faster than PS4. I'll predict that it will outsell the PS2 in its entire lifespan.
 

supernova8

Banned
Conversly, I'd say it's one of the best systems Nintendo has ever made, with easily one of their best and most diverse libraries of games, and anyone who isn't able to find enjoyment out of it probably needs a new hobby.

Between the current state of the Switch, Playstation 4/5 and PC gaming, I'd say this is the healthiest and most fun and creative the games industry has been for decades.

Yeah Zelda BOTW is still one of the most refreshing games I've played in years. The switch (no pun intended) to open world sort of pissed me off at first but after I got into the groove I really loved it.
 

ExKing

says GAF is a racist board but still wants to be a part of it...
Pretty incredible number for Animal Crossing and 30 million seems like a lock for this fiscal year, even for the calendar year. I think the game will finish his career at 45 million units... Just staggering.
 
H

hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah Zelda BOTW is still one of the most refreshing games I've played in years. The switch (no pun intended) to open world sort of pissed me off at first but after I got into the groove I really loved it.

I’m absolutely loving my time with it. It really is such a fun world to live in, and it looks amazing, the art style is just magnificent, absolutely jaw-dropping on my big TV. The combat is brilliant fun, the gyro makes archery a really fun option where otherwise it might have sucked (because the thumbsticks aren’t well suited to aiming).
 
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supernova8

Banned
I’m absolutely loving my time with it. It really is such a fun world to live in, and it looks amazing, the art style is just magnificent, absolutely jaw-dropping on my big TV. The combat is brilliant fun, the gyro makes archery a really fun option where otherwise it might have sucked (because the thumbsticks aren’t well suited to aiming).

I do kinda wish we had a 4K supercharged switch though. It looks a bit fuzzy on my big TV especially when I come from watching something in 4K on Prime or something. The actual models themselves don't need to be 4K because it's sort of still semi cell-shaded and holds up well, I just wish the resolution was a teeny tiny bit higher!
 
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hariseldon

Unconfirmed Member
I do kinda wish we had a 4K supercharged switch though. It looks a bit fuzzy on my big TV especially when I come from watching something in 4K on Prime or something. The actual models themselves don't need to be 4K because it's sort of still semi cell-shaded and holds up well, I just wish the resolution was a teeny tiny bit higher!

Tbh it really doesn't bother me - then again I just have standard HD rather than 4k (tbh I've not been blown away by 4k when I've seen it in shops). The trouble with 4k is that you need a vast amount more GPU for not that much extra fanciness when in all honesty that extra GPU power might be better spent on effects, more polygons, or whatever. It just seems to me that we've gone down a bit of a dead-end.
 
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