Kimishima on Switch’s initial lineup, breakdown of sell-through rates and trends
This information comes from Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima…
Our message at the financial results briefing in April focused on expanding the energy from the launch of Nintendo Switch and on the importance of maintaining its buzz throughout the year ahead, to maximize the installed base. Two new Nintendo titles went on sale in March at the same time as the Nintendo Switch launch, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch. This was followed by the April release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, then ARMS in June and Splatoon 2 in July, generating non-stop consecutive release with titles that let you have fun with groups of friends or acquaintances. Our goal was to further promote longer play on Nintendo Switch.
During that same period, several software publishers were able to offer an impressive lineup of titles. From our consumers’ perspectives, the sense was that there were many titles available early on that could help cement a decision to buy our hardware.
This graph shows a regional breakdown of sell-through rates for five Nintendo titles. For Japan, the most impressive performer to date has been Splatoon 2. For Europe and the US, it has been The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Worldwide, it has been Mario Kart 8 Deluxe with a strong selling. Each region shows different trends, but that said, we can see that no single title is monopolizing the market in any region.
This graph shows the trends for Nintendo Switch console use. We can see that our consumers are actually playing their Nintendo Switch once they have it. The continuous release of titles has led to increasing hardware use, without any significant fall-offs.
