The Japanese company has seen one of its better quarters recently after the release of the game-changing console Nintendo Switch. It has presented impressive sales worldwide, especially in the United States and Japan, with European countries registering significant but unconfirmed numbers yet.
The Nintendo company has already sold 906,000 “Switch” in the United States only in March, while Japanese bought more than 500,000 devices in that same period. To this moment, the Nintendo shares have risen more than 12 percent, with a 3 percent augment registered in the past two days.
The company in charge of providing all those numbers is the NPD group, which is worldwide enterprise-oriented to the monitoring of global consumer purchases in more than 165,000 stores.
This company makes the sales registering easier thanks to the fact that works internationally, and it’s not supported by any U.S. or Japanese internal figures. Experts have speculated that the Nintendo Switch could reach the 3 million devices sold worldwide by the end of the fiscal year (April 27th).
In fact, even after the astonishing sales registered so far, the Nintendo company has promised even more incredible numbers for this month. Currently, the best selling device for Nintendo is the Wii family (Wii and Wii U), as the most successful game ever is the Wii Sports, with more than 80 million copies sold worldwide.
When comparing the Switch with Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U, there are similar numbers when it comes to the sales presented on the release month. However, there are many aspects to consider, like for example, the fact that the Wii U came out worldwide in November, the holiday season gift-buying month per excellence. The Wii U reached the 800,000 cipher in its first month out, and the Switch not only outnumbered it but in a quite particular and unprecedented month like March.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild. World’s greatest system seller
Since the release of the Nintendo Switch, the console itself is not the only one that is getting an impressive reception by both public and critics. On this issue, the latest title of the Zelda saga, the Breath of the Wild, is on its way to becoming one of the greatest games ever released by Nintendo, thanks to several factors.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, is a title that was just published on March 3. The original plan was for the game to be released as a Wii U title, but thanks to two consecutive release delays, the game came out as the last title developed for Wii U and the first one designed for Nintendo Switch.
To this date, the game has almost reached the 500,000 mark among Wii U users, and 925,000 copies for the Switch just in the U.S. This represents a 100 percent attach rate among Zelda and Switch buyers, which is an unprecedented situation.
Some experts say that many people have bought both a copy and a limited edition copy just for conserving it. Others have said that there are individuals who have bought the game but have not had the opportunity to purchase the Switch yet, so they have the game and are just waiting for the console.
On this issue, there is certain impatience and disgust from the people that has not been able to get its Switch console. Currently, in the U.S., most of the store shelves no longer have the console, and as soon as it arrives, fast-acting buyers are already there for acquiring the device. Not even online retailers have enough console copies for satisfying consumers’ demand. Nintendo issued a statement about this problem.
“While Nintendo Switch sales are off to a record-breaking start, shipments have not yet been able to keep up with such high demand. Nintendo is working to make sure everyone who wants a system can buy one, and more systems are continually being shipped,” the company wrote in an official statement released this week.
Leaving this aside, the impressive numbers of the Breath of the Wild title have come to break record numbers in the Nintendo company’s history. This Zelda title is not only the fastest-selling Zelda title ever but the fastest-selling Nintendo launch in its 127 years of history.
There are few antecedents similar to the incredible reception of both Breath of the Wild and the Nintendo Switch. The only case where it happened a similar situation was in 1996 when Nintendo released its iconic Nintendo 64. The company released the console in the U.S. and sold 350,000 copies in the opening weekend, while its partner title, the Super Mario 64 title, reached only the 300,000 mark. This makes Breath of the Wild the best system seller title in the history of the industry, or at least within the United States.
Source: Forbes