Nintendo is aiming to surpass 100 million units sold with the Nintendo Switch with new software. Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which has taken the world by storm, is a major part of that strategy. In Nintendo’s conference call regarding their latest financial briefing, Shuntaro Furukawa, President of Nintendo, stated that the Switch is in the middle of its life cycle and that because of the phenomenon that is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, many have now become interested in the Switch. It contributed to the increase of sales of the system. He also says they plan to continue this momentum and release new software that will help catapult the Swith past the Wii in total sales and reach the 100 million mark.
Question 4: The cumulative sales volume for Nintendo Switch has reached approximately 80 million units, and is now within range of the approximately 100 million units recorded by Wii. Going forward, what do you think is needed to continue to grow Nintendo Switch sales even further?
Answer 4 Furukawa: Nintendo Switch has entered the middle of its lifecycle, and sales have greatly increased in the fourth year after the 2017 launch, reaching a wider range of consumers. Because Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a hit, many consumers became interested in Nintendo Switch, and that was one of the major reasons for the sales increase of the systems. We are aiming to continue this momentum and increase the cumulative sales volume to overtake that of Wii. While we are considering various measures to achieve this, one point that we consider critical to this effort is the fact that a wide range of consumers are currently playing Nintendo Switch. Many of those who purchased Nintendo Switch at launch have already played a variety of different titles, while there are also consumers who were encouraged to purchase a Nintendo Switch by the release of a game in a series like Pokémon or Animal Crossing. In addition, there are consumers who purchased a game system for the first time in a long while because in 2020, they were spending more time at home, or who purchased a system due to nostalgia from the Super Mario Bros. 35th Anniversary campaign. Nintendo Switch will be entering its fifth year, and it’s important for us to continue to provide the next title of interest to each of these various consumers. And our research has found that approximately 20% of the Nintendo Switch family sellthrough between October and December 2020 in the main regions was due to demand for multiple systems within the same family. We will aim to continue increasing our sales volume by rigorously responding to this kind of demand for multiple systems as well.
If the Nintendo Switch is truly in the middle of its life cycle, it definitely has a good chance to overtake the Wii in total sales; all it needs is high-quality software to achieve that. If the past few years are any indication, Nintendo will be on pace to pass the Wii, as they have released so many incredible titles.