Endo | The Switch Effect @EndoYoutube | Uploaded April 2022 | Updated October 2024, 12 hours ago.
Nintendo has had a long running history of ups and downs. They started as a Japanese playing card company and at one point were a love hotel brand, however they eventually found their footing with video games, and even then, it was a bumpy ride. From the NES to the GameCube, their sales slowly fell. And with the wii, wii u and switch, it has been a rollercoaster of success and failure.
Just into its 5th year, the Nintendo switch has surpassed the wii’s lifetime sales of 101 million units. Along with the insane success of the switch, it seems any game Nintendo puts onto the switch becomes a bestseller for the franchise.
The switch launched with a few games, the most prominent of which being the highly anticipated the legend of Zelda breath of the wild. This launch title may have been what started the ‘switch effect’ as it acted as a catalyst for success for the the early months of the switches lifetime. the game went on to sell over 25 million copies. Breath of the wild and the Nintendo switch went hand in hand together and boosted each others sales.
From then on, the switch had a clear future as one of Nintendo’s best systems. Another reason for this was the innovative hybrid nature of the system, as it can be used as a console and a handheld. There’s nothing else like it on the market, meaning it doesn’t even really compete with other consoles like PlayStation and xbox, and both console gamers and handheld gamers buy the device.
Nintendo has played their cards right over the last few years, and a few lucky circumstances have also helped: we’ll get to that later. But for now, why does every game on the switch sell so well?
One reason is that the company finally has figured out promotion online. The days of hearing of games from friends or TV adverts are over. Nowadays, Nintendo is able to shove their games right in your face through twitter or more importantly, Nintendo directs. They’ve really struck gold with these, as it generates insane amounts of hype, breaking the internet each time one is announced, and keeps them relevant.
Another reason is that unlike the wii, there’s a VERY large amount of switch owners who still use the console, whereas with the wii, where people didn’t care as much after the gimmick of motion controls was out for a while. This new switch audience also has a good balance of casual and hardcore gamers, with both being big fans of the games which are released. So each time a first party game comes out, its almost guaranteed that a lot of people will buy it.
An example of this is Skyward sword. I remember seeing so many people on the internet being angry that they are charging their ‘Nintendo price’ for a ten year old game, yet it sold out on amazon before it was even released? Even a game like this can be wildly popular because of that more casual audience, who doesn’t care about the technical parts of a game and just want some fun. And of course they would buy it after having a blast with the last Zelda game (cut to both footage with that line). Another game that got similar treatment was new super mario bros u. Fans hate it. Other people love it!
And as for the hardcore audience, it has grown strongly with the switch, converting some more casual people into hardcore fans, hence games like fire emblem, xenoblade, and Metroid dread achieving record sales for their franchises . Nintendo now has so many people anticipating their next games, its incredible!
And now lets talk about those lucky circumstances we mentioned earlier. While the pandemic has been horrible for everyone, it actually managed to help Nintendo sell more games, as people were stuck at home and had nothing to do, so they bought a Nintendo switch and some games. And coincidentally, Nintendo just happened to release the perfect lockdown game right before it happened. I’m talking about animal crossing new horizons. This game came just at the right time, and allowed Nintendo to sell over 26 million copies of it in less than a year, making it their second best selling switch game of all time. This boost in gamers since the pandemic is also sure to have helped with their insane success with any game the produce.
0:00 - Intro
0:30 - The start of ‘the switch effect’
0:51 - The Hybrid Functionality
1:08 - New Form of Promotion
1:43 - Active Users
2:34 - Lucky Circumstances
3:11 - Outro
Subscribe for more!
Come chat with us on our discord! discord.gg/cJhHvthHDx
We also stream here: twitch.tv/smashbrothes
On our channel, we create well-edited smash and nintendo related videos for you to enjoy! and subscribing encourages us to upload more
#supersmashbros #smashbros #smashultimate #smash #smashultimate #donkeykong #ganondorf
Nintendo has had a long running history of ups and downs. They started as a Japanese playing card company and at one point were a love hotel brand, however they eventually found their footing with video games, and even then, it was a bumpy ride. From the NES to the GameCube, their sales slowly fell. And with the wii, wii u and switch, it has been a rollercoaster of success and failure.
Just into its 5th year, the Nintendo switch has surpassed the wii’s lifetime sales of 101 million units. Along with the insane success of the switch, it seems any game Nintendo puts onto the switch becomes a bestseller for the franchise.
The switch launched with a few games, the most prominent of which being the highly anticipated the legend of Zelda breath of the wild. This launch title may have been what started the ‘switch effect’ as it acted as a catalyst for success for the the early months of the switches lifetime. the game went on to sell over 25 million copies. Breath of the wild and the Nintendo switch went hand in hand together and boosted each others sales.
From then on, the switch had a clear future as one of Nintendo’s best systems. Another reason for this was the innovative hybrid nature of the system, as it can be used as a console and a handheld. There’s nothing else like it on the market, meaning it doesn’t even really compete with other consoles like PlayStation and xbox, and both console gamers and handheld gamers buy the device.
Nintendo has played their cards right over the last few years, and a few lucky circumstances have also helped: we’ll get to that later. But for now, why does every game on the switch sell so well?
One reason is that the company finally has figured out promotion online. The days of hearing of games from friends or TV adverts are over. Nowadays, Nintendo is able to shove their games right in your face through twitter or more importantly, Nintendo directs. They’ve really struck gold with these, as it generates insane amounts of hype, breaking the internet each time one is announced, and keeps them relevant.
Another reason is that unlike the wii, there’s a VERY large amount of switch owners who still use the console, whereas with the wii, where people didn’t care as much after the gimmick of motion controls was out for a while. This new switch audience also has a good balance of casual and hardcore gamers, with both being big fans of the games which are released. So each time a first party game comes out, its almost guaranteed that a lot of people will buy it.
An example of this is Skyward sword. I remember seeing so many people on the internet being angry that they are charging their ‘Nintendo price’ for a ten year old game, yet it sold out on amazon before it was even released? Even a game like this can be wildly popular because of that more casual audience, who doesn’t care about the technical parts of a game and just want some fun. And of course they would buy it after having a blast with the last Zelda game (cut to both footage with that line). Another game that got similar treatment was new super mario bros u. Fans hate it. Other people love it!
And as for the hardcore audience, it has grown strongly with the switch, converting some more casual people into hardcore fans, hence games like fire emblem, xenoblade, and Metroid dread achieving record sales for their franchises . Nintendo now has so many people anticipating their next games, its incredible!
And now lets talk about those lucky circumstances we mentioned earlier. While the pandemic has been horrible for everyone, it actually managed to help Nintendo sell more games, as people were stuck at home and had nothing to do, so they bought a Nintendo switch and some games. And coincidentally, Nintendo just happened to release the perfect lockdown game right before it happened. I’m talking about animal crossing new horizons. This game came just at the right time, and allowed Nintendo to sell over 26 million copies of it in less than a year, making it their second best selling switch game of all time. This boost in gamers since the pandemic is also sure to have helped with their insane success with any game the produce.
0:00 - Intro
0:30 - The start of ‘the switch effect’
0:51 - The Hybrid Functionality
1:08 - New Form of Promotion
1:43 - Active Users
2:34 - Lucky Circumstances
3:11 - Outro
Subscribe for more!
Come chat with us on our discord! discord.gg/cJhHvthHDx
We also stream here: twitch.tv/smashbrothes
On our channel, we create well-edited smash and nintendo related videos for you to enjoy! and subscribing encourages us to upload more
#supersmashbros #smashbros #smashultimate #smash #smashultimate #donkeykong #ganondorf
