Nintendo Switch Sales Set Records In America
We still don’t have official numbers in from Nintendo or NPD, which tracks system and game sales, but NOA’s President, Reggie Fils-Aime spoke to Nick Wingfield of the New York Times in an interview that is set to be published soon. Nick tweeted some of the details early, and the news is very good for Nintendo!
First up, sales for the Nintendo Switch console on Friday and Saturday (its first two days on the market) in the Americas were the biggest ever for the company, breaking all records. The previous was held by the Wii. This is particularly impressive given that the Switch launched in March whereas the Wii came out the week before Black Friday, well into the holiday shopping season frenzy.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is also performing exceedingly well. It has also broken Nintendo’s internal record of becoming the best selling standalone launch game in Nintendo’s history. That beats out the likes of Super Mario 64, which was pretty much sold 1:1 with launch hardware back in 1996.
It’s difficult to predict where the Switch goes from here, but it’s off to an amazing start. Will Nintendo’s strategy of releasing an average of one game per month for the remainder of the year pay off? Will they be able to restock retailers while the iron is hot and capitalize on the hype? A lot can happen in the next 9 months, so we’ll have to wait and see. As more official data is revealed, we will make sure you’re in the know.
[Source: Nick Wingfield of the New York Times]
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
