SEGA says it didn’t expect Nintendo Switch to be such a big success

Shuji Utsumi, CEO of SEGA America and SEGA Europe as well as the COO and president of SEGA Corporation, has commented on the success of Nintendo Switch – which took him by surprise.

Back in 2017, Nintendo had a lot to overcome. There were plenty of doubts surrounding the console after Wii U turned out to be a failure. Support from third-parties was initially slow with many waiting to see how things would play out.

As for Utsumi, he told The Game Business in a new interview:

“Since I was a member of the PlayStation launch team, I have a big attachment to the console business. And Nintendo has been playing an amazing role… Jesus, they made a great contribution to this area. I didn’t expect Switch 1 to be that successful. Nobody did.

SEGA was far from the only company that had doubts about Nintendo Switch many years ago. Even the CEO of The Pokemon Company told Nintendo that he thought the system wouldn’t be a success. Ultimately though, it’s gone on to be one of the Big N’s most successful platforms of all time at over 150 million units sold.