In spite of some quieter months this year, featuring not many major releases, it seems as though the Nintendo Switch has continued to sell at a steady clip through this year, GameStop has revealed in an earnings call.
Though sales of consoles in the first half of this year are down over last year (which makes sense, since last year’s numbers were boosted by the Switch launch), the Switch apparently has continued to sell, with demand for the console being driven by its lineup- especially, it seems, by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which, in spite of being over a year old, remains a best seller.
“With respect to the Switch we did very well at the launch. It was the hottest thing that customers could get their hands on,” GameStop CFO Robert Lloyd said. “We sold a lot of it in the two months of the quarter that it was in the marketplace. I think that we are seeing a very steady level of demand for Switch right now and a very steady level of demand for the Switch games. It’s surprising when I read the reports on a weekly basis how well even Zelda which launched a year ago continues to do on a week-to-week basis.”
I think this is the thing that a lot of people forget- Nintendo doesn’t sell like other console games do. They’re not ephemeral hits that are month long blockbusters, and then falling off. They have long legs, and continue to sell, and move hardware, for years to come. Nintendo’s smartness in getting as many great games out last year as they did means that even in a period with not that many new releases, their existing lineup continues to sell the system. Add to that the fact that the Wii U ports are “new” games for most people (since very few people ever owned a Wii U anyway), and even with a decline in output for the last few months, the Switch has continued to sell.