Principate
Saint Titanfall
I mean it's started, it's not like it's going to stop anytime soon.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Gamestop: Nintendo Switch Selling out in hours not days (Mario Kart Launch info)
- Thread starter Principate
- Start date
I mean it's started, it's not like it's going to stop anytime soon.
I get where you're coming from. If you look at the raw numbers, it's performing similar to other consoles. Because it sells out, we don't know the baseline yet.
Nintendo also sacrificed 2016 for the Switch. Can they keep it up? I think they can, and they might surprise a lot of people.
Suburban Thug
Member
You're wrong. Read the link I posted. Can't dispute hard facts with a personal anecdote.
Graphics Horse
Member
Tbf there were a lot of fans regurgitating launch day pr for weeks but sadly that should be expected with any system.
Are you gonna rewrite history with a supposed Wii U succesful launch?
Suburban Thug
Member
I don't believe I am unless i misinterpreted the data. The point is that it's way too early to call Switch a runaway hit it could go either way. I think it's foolish to regurgitate PR speak or jump to conclusions in the launch window. The link I posted is more articulate than I can be.
If you compare Wii U sellthrough with what Nintendo shipped you'll see how far from reality you are.
It was true and it's true now. You can't read too much into launch hype because everything will be blown out of proportion at that time. Thankfully it worked out for PS4. Hopefully it will for Switch. Just don't read into it too much.
Depends on what yo consider the launch period. The very first month of the Wii U was actually pretty alright. But died soon afterwards.
Suburban Thug is right though. Logically speaking, it is too early to say how successful will be just yet.
Then again, the system is getting a loot of attention recently.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
I mean the switch has sold more than what 4 months of what teh wii u sold in the space of a month (that included a Christmas launch), and was hard to find until the MK launch where it sees nintendo shipped a substantial amount of stock and it's still not that easy to get. We're not dealing with the same scenario here.
Neither that happened Wii U and 3DS were massively overstocked at launch month. if you consider launch as first week only, sure Wii U had alright sales.
7DollarHagane
Banned
GameStop is still playing their little game of holding back units to stores and pushing overpriced bundles online.
Best buy had about 30 units sitting at customer service when I was there early yesterday. Nintendo is shipping units. Dont take GameStop as a barometer.
Graphics Horse
Member
The article is referring to its first q4 quarter hardware shipments (3.06m) as 'Sales' which is rather misleading especially when there was an embarrassing episode following that where they were recalling more units from Europe than they were sending.
Yeah, it was, it still performed adequately. Not great, but not terrible either.
OrbitalBeard
Member
The article you posted says nothing to refute the fact that Wii U was very easy to obtain almost immediately.
I think Gamestop must have gotten a massive shipment this weekend. I went into my local Gamestop Friday night and they had a "Switch in Stock NOW" sign on the door and they had 5 or 6 of them sitting on the shelf behind the register. I bought one along with Zelda and MK8. Then the employees wanted to kill me because I didn't buy any accessories.
Brainiac 8
Member
Switch sells like crazy...third parties scramble to come up with new reasons why they won't support Nintendo. 
The point where you misinterpret the data is that you look only at launch quarter shipments: it shipped over 3 million to stores in the first quarter, and after that it hardly shipped anything for the next 2 or 3 quarters because stores were not getting rid of their launch period allocations. That tells you it didn't have a sold-out launch at all. The Switch, on the other hand, is being sold out for two months straight, with a shipment size that is larger than the Wii U's (2.74 million in March and what they have shipped for April). I haven't followed the XB1 launch so I don't know if it was fully sold out for its first few months, but the Switch numbers are in line (probably a bit above) the 3 million shipped by Microsoft for XB1. It really is a big result, much higher than Wii U and in line with PS4 (and maybe XB1, but I don't know).
Switch sells like crazy...third parties scramble to come up with new reasons why they won't support Nintendo.
They don't need a new one, they'll just trot out the same old "Nintendo gamers don't buy our kind of games" line.
forknknife
Banned
Hoooooooolyyyy shit!Basically this:
Switch sells like crazy...third parties scramble to come up with new reasons why they won't support Nintendo.
They claim it's because their games don't sell as well as on other platforms, but we all know that it's actually because they have a personal vendetta against the fans. /s
Seriously, gamers are so paranoid about people lying to them. What is the possible motivation for lying about that?
Suburban Thug
Member
It is talking about sold not shipped unless I am misreading and if I am then I'm sorry. But the point I was trying to make is that it's too early; I said Switch could be another GameCube or Wii and got jumped on lol. I don't think this is another Wii U situation but want to wait until we are out of the launch window to see if this thing has legs. Most people I know with one are hardcore Nintendo stans, everybody else (including me) is taking a wait and see approach. Of course the early adopters will snatch up every system; I don't believe you can say what it will be either way based off of this.
Spyder_Monkey
Banned
You do realize we have sales data right? It sold twice as much units as the Wii U did during its launch. The only other console to do more than the Switch is the PS4.
You mean before launch. They didn't even launch the game before screwing over the Wii u
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Err Ubisoft put in the most effort in regards to the Wii U. The last thing you could say was that they screwed it over in comparison to other publishers.
Ars Technica was misreading to be precise, the number is shipped, not sold. We have never received sales numbers for that period, but only shipped numbers (the exact number mentioned in the article as being sold, in fact), and as I mention in another reply, the Wii U shipped basically nothing for the next few quarters which tells you the Wii U was still lying on shelves.
It's fair to say you can't predict the Switch being a Wii-like success with certainty at this point, but it is clear at this point that it is going to be successful in its own right at least.
Graphics Horse
Member
The article mixes and matches national sold and international shipped data and probably doesn't really care.
I agree that judging long term demand is difficult, my guess was this system would do 15M lifetime, while getting phased out by other revisions/form factors but I'm sure it will do better now!
Suburban Thug
Member
You think how a console does in the launch window is indicative of long term success? It doesn't matter that the thing sells out, there would be HUGE problems if it didn't. This is nothing unusual and I'm not just saying that to downplay Switch. I think there are a few million dedicated Nintendo fans willing to snatch up units the first two months but let's wait until the end of summer/holiday season to make bold statements one way or the other. I'm not talking about speculation, that's fine, moreso the people who are convinced Nintendo has the next Wii on their hands.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Dedicated Nintendo fans aren't the reason the console continues to be sold out almost everywhere.
gregor7777
Banned
No one is convinced they have the next Wii on thier hands. You're argueing a point no one is making while simultaneously ignoring the facts.
It's impressive
It's impressive
Principate
Saint Titanfall
How much it sells out and when dosesn't indicate nothing at all.may not say how well it does but the chance of it suddenly falling off a cliff are low. I mean nintendo has a 5 million seller in just over two months time mario not long after that and whatever their winter game is.
Keep in mind by this time the 3DS sales had dropped off a cliff.
ScrabbleDude
Member
I played some MK8D with coworkers on Friday in tabletop mode. I was surprised how many people walked by, saw it, and stated that they needed to get a Switch.
I think the portable multiplayer nature of the machine is a brilliant idea and I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
I think the portable multiplayer nature of the machine is a brilliant idea and I'm interested in seeing where this goes.
Nothing will top N WII first years.
Annual sales:
Launch - March 2007 5.84 ML
March 2007 - March 2008 18.61 ML
March 2008 - March 2009 25.95 ML
March 2009- March 2010 20.54 ML
I wouldn't call either of their launches adequate in performance. They were overstocked with units that weren't selling.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wii_U
Wii U: 3.06 million units total shipped worldwide in their 3rd quarter FY3/2013.
4th quarter FY3/2013, 3.45 million units shipped WW total.
1st quarter FY3/2014, 3.61 million units shipped WW total.
2nd quarter FY3/2014, 3.91 million units shipped WW total.
For 9 months they could barely sell one million more Wii U units.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_3DS_sales
3DS had similar problems once they saw how they only shipped 700k more 3DS units for the quarter after the initial launch quarter.
The only difference with that was how they threw everything behind it to make it sure it wouldn't fail with regards to the huge price cut 6 months in after launch and getting big games released for the platform.
LoveCake
Member
I have not seen anybody out and about with a Switch and there is never anyone looking at the small Nintendo section in my local Game store, when I go there I am the only one that looks at the Nintendo section.
I still see children out and about now and then with a 3DS and often in the local MacDonald's but no Switches.
I still see children out and about now and then with a 3DS and often in the local MacDonald's but no Switches.
Jaded Alyx
Member
The lengths people go to... The 'logic' people come up with...
Still laughing at "when supply finally meets demand i bet you it won't sell out!"
Still laughing at "when supply finally meets demand i bet you it won't sell out!"
Suburban Thug
Member
But I never said or implied that it will fall off a cliff. There seems to be this odd notion that I'm comparing Switch to Wii U when I've said multiple times it's probably safe to say Nintendo won't end up in that situation this time around. I literally said it could be another GameCube (modest success) or Wii (explosive hit) and some took that as a slight i think. It's just too early to tell what Switch will ultimately be and I don't believe the picture will become clear until summer is over.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Most younger kids probably won't start receiving their own Switch systems until the holidays.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
Gamecube only sold a few more millon lifetime than the wii u. Your talking as if there some drastic difference when saying it'll sell Gamecube levels rather than the wii u. The gamecube sold exceptionally poorly. The wii u just somehow managed to be worse. For it sell Gamecube numbers sales would have to drop off a cliff.
OrbitalBeard
Member
Globally, the Switch is probably closing in on a fourth of GCN's lifetime sales, in two months. It's honestly stupid to compare the two.
xeroborn55
Member
Yes. This.
The people expecting third party games crack me up too. MAYBE the reason third parties arent there is that there are almost 100 million xbones and ps4 already sold. Why would a third party make games for a platform that has 1 or 2 percent of the install base and historically doesnt give 2 shits about third parties? Besides the fact that modern games cant be ported to the switch. The big announced third party game is skyrim!
Personally i find nintendo baffling. They should just make their incredible software for playstation. They are so stuck in their ways and seemingly ok with taking the money people will give them instead of trying anything new and potentially making much more.
It's going to sell way better than Gamecube. WII is another story though.
Switch sells like crazy...third parties scramble to come up with new reasons why they won't support Nintendo.
Yep. Like clockwork it's already happening.
TheDinoman
Member
This thread is going somewhere, alright.
ScrabbleDude
Member
Really going for the greatest hits on this one.
Principate
Saint Titanfall
I mean the switch will have absolute no problem getting Japanese third parties more and more are on board western are another manner but the 3DS sold 70 million far more than XB1 ever will and will still be pretty close to what playstation ends up at. That's a lot of profitability there, which is why you won't see them on Playstation anytime soon.