Nintendo on differing Switch software sales in North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia
During Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing, president Shuntaru Furukawa spoke about the differing software sales for Switch in North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia. One investor brought up how sales seemed to decline in the Americas.
Furukawa acknowledged that to be the case, explaining that various factors contributed “such as the absence of sizable growth in sales of evergreen titles, particularly during the third quarter (October-December).” Japan saw a boost with Splatoon 3 and Pokemon Scarlet / Violet. Europe saw Nintendo Switch Sports and Mario Strikers: Battle League sales increase last holiday. Finally, Pokemon did very well in Asia.
Furukawa’s full words:
In the Americas, software unit sales for the nine months between April and December decreased by 19.5% year-on-year. When you look at region-by-region performance, the Americas was the only region where unit sales declined year-on-year. During the same period of the previous fiscal year, sales of evergreen titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Animal Crossing: New Horizons were strong, and particularly in the Americas, new titles like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD, Mario Golf: Super Rush and Metroid Dread were also strong, resulting in software sales for that region to grow significantly. Sales were down for the same period this fiscal year, due to factors such as the absence of sizable growth in sales of evergreen titles, particularly during the third quarter (October-December).
In Japan, Splatoon 3 was released in September and got off to a good start, and factors like this helped us maintain momentum as we entered the third quarter with the holiday season. As a result, software sales continued to fare well in Japan compared to other regions after the November release of Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.
In Europe, the situation during the third quarter was different from the Americas. Titles such as Nintendo Switch Sports and Mario Strikers: Battle League, both released during this fiscal year, saw their sales grow during the holiday season, with the result that the percentage decline in software unit sales was comparatively lower than in hardware unit sales.
In other regions, the decline in hardware unit sales was accompanied by a decline in software unit sales, but in addition to Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet having an extremely strong showing centered on Asia, Nintendo Switch Sports and Splatoon 3 also had steady growth, and as a result, software unit sales for the third quarter decreased only slightly year-on-year.
