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Nintendo Finds Early Success With Switch

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It might be early days for the Switch, but so far the curious hybrid of tablet and console shows success-- so much so the Wall Street Journal reports Nintendo needs to double planned production in order to meet demand.

Nintendo switchThe Japanese company was supposedly going to make 8 million Switch units in fiscal 2017 (starting in April), but higher-than-expected sales have lead to a doubling of the figure to 16 million, unnamed supply chain sources claim. The WSJ adds the widely praised Zelda game sold 1.5m units in its first week, and sales for March 2017 can total up to 2.5m.

Such reports follow tweets by New York Times journalist Nick Wingfield, who says the Switch was the fastest selling Nintendo machine in the Americas, with launch title Zelda: Breath of the Wild as best selling standalone launch title.

Such early success sounds well and good, but Nintendo has to retain momentum-- after all, the Wii U sales reached 6m units in the first 6 weeks after launch, but overall sales reached just 13.5m in its lifetime. Back in January 2017, analyst DFC Intelligence predicted Switch sales reaching 40m in 3 years, or less than the PlayStation 4 but more than the XBox One during the same timeframe.

Meanwhile SuperData predicts Switch sales will total 5m by end 2017, a healthy enough number considering Nintendo needs to convince PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners to purchase a second device lacking a bundled game.

Go Nintendo to Double Production of Switch Console (WSJ.com)

Go SuperData: Nintendo Switch Could Sell 5m Units in 2017 (VentureBeat)