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Switch sales top 280,000 in the U.S. in April, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tops 550,000 (US)

DKHF

Member
http://gematsu.com/2017/05/switch-sales-top-280000-us-april-mario-kart-8-deluxe-sales-top-550000

Nintendo Switch was the best-selling video game hardware in the month of April in the U.S. with more than 280,000 units sold, Nintendo announced.

This marks the second month in a row that Switch led video game hardware sales in the U.S., after selling 906,000 units during its first month of release in March.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which launched for Switch on April 28, was the top-selling video game in April in the U.S. with more than 550,000 units sold (about 460,000 physical units and 90,000 digital).

The Switch version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was also the third highest-selling video game in April in the U.S.
 

Skyzard

Banned
906,000 to 280,000

that's quite the drop-off, no wonder the pres didn't think they'd hit their 10 million target.

Not too surprising tbh.
 

Tsosie

Member
They seem to be selling them as fast as they can make them. I hope they are able to get production aligned with demand by the Fall.
 

marmoka

Banned
They really had huge problems with stock in April. It seems everything is going well by now. At least it's finally possible to buy one in stores of downtown Madrid.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Yikes..they really have issues getting the consoles out there.
 
Definitely good for Nintendo but they surely must figure out stock issues while the iron is hot and they have all this mind share.
I'm stretching this to worldwide as well, I mean its 2017 for goodness sake.

A drop of roughly 625k for a new system can be considered underwhelming imo i.e. 906k to 280k.
 

NotLiquid

Member
Considering it was only fairly recently we heard of Nintendo resorting to shipping units by plane to meet demand it's pretty obvious that stock scarcity was gonna be a huge issue last month.
 

jonno394

Member
Japan and USA did 500k between them alone in April. Factore in Europe and ROW and you're looking at 750k that month. Then factor in that a rushed shipment was air freighted around the world in March (so they should have been april saled), it could potentially add up to a 1m shipment for the month.
 

Zedark

Member
Japan and USA did 500k between them alone in April. Factore in Europe and ROW and you're looking at 750k that month. Then factor in that a rushed shipment was air freighted around the world in March (so they should have been april saled), it could potentially add up to a 1m shipment for the month.

But you should be seeing those air shipped units from the end of March in retail sales for April, right? If that's true, then April shipments were even more abysmal than they already seem.

Might be messing up my math, but isn't it 19.5%?
Your math should be done inclusively: digital + physical together are 100%, so 100% * 90/(460+90) = 16.4%
 

jonno394

Member
But you should be seeing those air shipped units from the end of March in retail sales for April, right? If that's true, then April shipments were even more abysmal than they already seem.

No, because AFAIA they were shipped in to the territories so likelysold in March, so they form part of the 2.7m shipments reported.

This itself would likely have a knock on effect on Aprils shipments as a chunk of what was initially scheduled for April was fast tracked shipped for March.
 

Zedark

Member
No, because AFAIA they were shipped in to the territories so likelysold in March, so they form part of the 2.7m shipments reported.

This itself would likely have a knock on effect on Aprils shipments as a chunk of what was initially scheduled for April was fast tracked shipped for March.

Ah, right, that makes sense. So, we should theoretically be seeing a higher number in May since no such thing was done this month (although there is the fact that no major first party release happens in May as opposed to April), I would think.
 
Seems like they sold through their stock pretty quickly, but I wonder why they couldn't get more units out on time.
There's even reports of them using expensive shipping to try and meet demand
 

jonno394

Member
Ah, right, that makes sense. So, we should theoretically be seeing a higher number in May since no such thing was done this month (although there is the fact that no major first party release happens in May as opposed to April), I would think.

Depends, if the demand is there and shipments are circa 1m for the whole world for May, then USA should receive more units than in April and thus potentially have a MoM increase. Plenty of variables involved though and I haven't been in the stock supply thread for a while so unsure what stock looks like in USA.

Air freight clearly was a way to capitalise on the March launch thirst, but it too pricey to do regularly, hence why they only did it that once.
 

zelas

Member
I'm going to guess the 3DS and DS had better second months than this.

I mean if the plan was to serve both the handheld and console market, why wouldnt they expect bigger numbers and have more units ready. Did they really handicap their own sales just to prevent leaks of a concept most people guessed a year before launch?
 

Vena

Member
I'm going to guess the 3DS and DS had better second months than this.

I mean if the plan was to serve both the handheld and console market, why wouldnt they expect bigger numbers and have more units ready. Did they really handicap their own sales just to prevent leaks of a concept most people guessed a year before launch?

3DS did not. Also they did emergency shipments in March and exceeded their original projections, so that's rather obviously lost stock from April.
 
906,000 to 280,000

that's quite the drop-off, no wonder the pres didn't think they'd hit their 10 million target.

Not too surprising tbh.

OléGunner;237107493 said:
A drop of roughly 625k for a new system can be considered underwhelming imo i.e. 906k to 280k.

April's sales would reflect the extra units that Nintendo had to ship out, in response to higher than anticipated demand. It's not as if there's tons of them sitting around, as soon as they hit store shelves( or Amazon/best buy etc gets a shipment), they're selling out. If Nintendo had shipped 500k units for April you'd probably see close to that amount sold. If Nintendo heads into fall sitting on a 7m WW sales, I can't see them not hitting 10m going into 2018. Switch is gonna be a hit ticket item this Christmas.
 
I'm going to guess the 3DS and DS had better second months than this.

I mean if the plan was to serve both the handheld and console market, why wouldnt they expect bigger numbers and have more units ready. Did they really handicap their own sales just to prevent leaks of a concept most people guessed a year before launch?

The 3DS second month was 90k units worse. The Switch outsold 5 months of US 3DS sales in its launch. You serious man?
 
I mean, the numbers themselves aren't good but that's just the Switch being heavily supply constrained.

Nintendo needs to sort out their supply pronto before we head into the Holiday season where competition will be a lot more fierce.
 

tbm24

Member
I'll be curious of the May numbers as that's when I jumped in once Gamestop got their bundles back. The Zelda + MK8+Snipperclips+ Shovel Knight was a great bundle.
 

llien

Member
Scarcely available in online stores in Germany.
Grey one is easier to get from reputable shops.
Neon for a bit more than MSRP from nasty little shops that are apparently scalping.

906,000 to 280,000

906k is US sales in previous month?
 

Duxxy3

Member
Wow. Depressingly low numbers.

Not because it sold poorly here. You can't find it anywhere. Depressing because this is another failure on Nintendo's part to not make enough hardware. They keep failing to hit when the iron is hot.

They would have sold every Nintendo classic that they made. They would have sold every 3DS that they made last year. Instead it was shortage after shortage.
 

Shiggy

Member
Scarcely available in online stores in Germany.
Grey one is easier to get from reputable shops.
Neon for a bit more than MSRP from nasty little shops that are apparently scalping.

That's not really true. You have been able to get both versions from Germany's biggest electronic retailer (Media Markt/ Saturn) for a while, either through their website or their eBay page. Even right now both are readily available:

http://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_switch-grau-konsolen-zubehör-2221515.html
http://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_switch-neon-rot-neon-blau-konsolen-zubehör-2221517.html


Ebay prices are also a good indication for whether supply matches demand. There, people selling Switches are only getting about the same price that you'd also pay in a store.
 

Elandyll

Banned
That's awfully low for month 2, and sales in JP have gone off a cliff lately too (down to 40k ish weekly, to a now weird 20k ish).

Supposedly it is still very hard to find, which is somewhat reassuring for now?

Wtf is Nintendo doing with production?
 
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