Making the Switch
Nintendo looks to keep sales of Switch soaring by learning from Wii U mistakes
Nintendo is counting on Mario, Link and its other heroes to protect the Switch from suffering the same fate as its predecessor.
The gaming giant made plenty of noise at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, showing off upcoming titles for its hot new console while announcing the return of some popular franchises further down the road.
The presentation capped a year-long turnaround for Nintendo, which came to last year’s E3 with considerably less fanfare. The Wii U console was entering the last days of its ill-fated lifespan, there were precious few details on its successor and outside of the heavily anticipated next “Legend of Zelda’’ game, there wasn’t too much that moved the needle.
Momentum began to shift last fall with the release of “Pokemon Sun’’ and “Pokemon Moon’’ for the portable Nintendo 3DS, then took an unexpected spike in March with the release of the Switch. The console/portable hybrid has so far sold at a pace comparable to the hugely popular Wii, which at its height had an install base of more than 100 million units.
For the Switch to approach that lofty number it needs sustained success, and a hot launch is no guarantee of a home run. The Wii U sold briskly after its November 2012 launch, but a lacklustre rollout of titles over the coming months saw sales plummet. In December, Nintendo reported overall Wii U sales of 13.56 million, a drop in the bucket compared to what the Wii achieved.
“It’s more of a learning from the Wii U launch. We had a number of first- and thirdparty titles at launch and then kind of went dry for about sixplus months afterwards,’’ Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing, said in a phone interview from E3. “It killed our ability to install on the hardware and it killed our momentum.
“We think the strategy ought to be about every month you see a major tentpole from Nintendo. And the early tentpoles are definitely leveraging our most popular IPs.’’
Nintendo has certainly employed the strategy early in the Switch’s lifetime. The console was launched along with “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,’’ which actually outsold the Switch itself in March, and the next month saw the release of a port of “Mario Kart 8.’’
“Arms,’’ a new intellectual property, is out this month, and this year will also see “Splatoon 2’’ and “Super Mario Odyssey’’ arrive. Beyond this year are plans for “Pokemon,’’ “Kirby,’’ “Yoshi’’ and “Metroid’’ games.