The Nintendo Switch has been selling like gangbusters ever since it came out, and after what seemed like a very slow start to 2018 after an amazingly strong launch year, its sales have recently picked up again, thanks to the Holiday season, as well as the release of a number of high profile exclusives. But what’s even more impressive as far as the Switch is concerned is that since its launch, not only has it been selling incredibly well, it’s also been seeing some very impressive software sales for a lot of its games.
According to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, in fact, the Switch is performing better in terms of attach rate than any other Nintendo system ever has. Reggie mentions the likes of Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, all of which are games that have an attach rate of more than 50 per cent, which means that more than one in every two Switch owners has purchased all three of those titles.
“So first, in terms of traditional attach rate, the Nintendo Switch is performing at historic levels,” he said while speaking with Forbes. “As we sit here today, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, each one did attaching at better than 50%, meaning each of these games in the United States across the population of hardware consume one out of every two consumers that bought those games. And we’ve never seen 50% attach rates to begin with and seeing that across three different games coming up on to our second holiday is completely unheard of.”
Even beyond attach rates, software sales and revenue on the Switch are incredibly strong, according to Fils-Aime. From DLCs to indie titles, both of which are apparently enjoying excellent sales on the system, the Switch is seeing software revenue unlike anything Nintendo has ever seen on any of its consoles.
Said Reggie: “Second thing I would say is that beyond the number of games attaching to a system, we’re looking at the overall software revenue that we’re generating, so now this starts to take into account DLC, it takes into account purchases of indie games and other content, and again, the Nintendo Switch here in the United States is generating a level of revenue per piece of hardware that we’ve never seen in our history.
“And so our consumers are engaged, they’re buying software, they’re playing software, as long as we continue to do this, we’re going to have a very vibrant platform which will continue to attract the very best from the big third-party developers as well as the smaller independent developers.”
A lot of that, I presume, is down to the Switch’s incredibly flexible design, which allows it to function as a console-handheld hybrid. Third party output on the system has been surprisingly great, while the system has also become a haven for indie developers. Then, of course, there’s Nintendo’s own exclusive lineup, which seems to be the strongest it has ever been. With recent releases such as Pokemon Let’s Go and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, both of which seem to be selling extremely impressively, it’d be safe to assume that software revenue and attach rate figures are only bound to go up.