As part of Nintendo’s March 2019 Financial Results Briefing, information has been released regarding the Switch’s sales pace in relation to past consoles.
Four different graphs have been presented in total – one showing total sales for each console worldwide, with the other three focusing on three separate regions. If we look at the worldwide chart, you can see that the Switch is selling at a near-identical pace to the 3DS after two years on sale, narrowly leading the way. It’ll take something special to catch up with the mighty Wii and DS, but the signs are certainly positive.
The two sharp spikes you can see in the Switch’s timeline are from holiday seasons, where sales have gone through the roof for short bursts of time.
There are some interesting regional differences over that same time period. Note how, in Japan, the Switch is actually selling at a faster pace than the Wii, but is significantly behind the 3DS. The Switch seems to be performing particularly well in North America, where only one of the other featured systems sold more units in its first two years.
Do you think the Switch will go on to outsell the 3DS’ total? Switch currently has 34.74 million sales to its name, compared to the 3DS’ 75.08 million.
We haven’t really heard a great deal about them since their reveal in February, but Pokémon Sword and Shield are still expected to launch later this year.
The games will introduce the series’ next generation of locations and Pokémon, thrusting players into a new region and seemingly throwing some new ideas into the mix, and will act as the second mainline entries for the series on Switch. They’ll be following in the footsteps of last year’s Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!, but Nintendo president, Shuntaro Furukawa, has noted a key difference between the two.
His comment below comes from Nintendo’s March 2019 Financial Results Briefing, highlighting the fact that the Let’s Go titles were developed with the Switch’s TV mode in mind, whereas Sword and Shield will emphasise the fun of playing Switch in handheld mode.
These new titles, first announced in a Pokémon Direct in February, have generated a huge response from consumers. Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!, which were released in November of last year, are designed to highlight the fun of Nintendo Switch in TV mode, for example by waving the controller at the TV screen to capture Pokémon.
Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are being developed to emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode. We want these games to be played not only by longtime Pokémon fans, but also by consumers whose first encounter with the series was on a dedicated video game platform with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!.
The footage shown for Sword and Shield makes it instantly obvious that the series is returning to its roots in many areas, but this focus on handheld play suggests that the final product might be even more similar to its 3DS counterparts than we first thought.
Are you wanting the series to feel more like previous games in the series, or are there any features of the Let’s Go titles you’d like to see make a comeback? Tell us below.
It might not seem like it, but Nintendo has been selling games digitally for many years now. Over time, these particular sales have become an increasingly important part of the company’s earnings.
During the latest financial results briefing, President of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa revealed how the latest digital sales figures are nearly double the amount of the previous fiscal year. For the first time ever, Nintendo has also exceeded 100 billion yen:
“Sales nearly doubled in the fiscal year ended March 2019 compared to the previous fiscal year, and exceeded 100 billion yen for the first time ever.”
The graph below is a long-term comparison of digital sales on Nintendo’s dedicated video game platforms. These sales include pro-rated NSO memberships, based on the portion of the subscription term that has elapsed:
Furukawa also pointed out how sales had improved for add-on content:
“The Nintendo Switch business has expanded over the previous year not only in download versions of packaged software, but also in download-only software and add-on content, plus contributions from Nintendo Switch Online.”
Are you at all surprised to hear digital sales are increasing? Tell us down in the comments.
Following on from his comments that there would be no new hardware at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa has now revealed the company’s plans.
Once again, Nintendo will not be hosting a large-scale conference for institutional investors, securities analysts or the media. Instead, the plan is to continue the same practice as the past few years, where a video presentation is shared online, discussing and revealing all of the upcoming games planned for release. There’ll be hands-on experiences on the show floor as well.
“We plan to continue our practice of the past few years, which is to release a video presentation discussing the games that are planned for release during the fiscal year, provide hands-on opportunities,and so on.”
During Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing, President of Nintendo Shuntaro Furukawa revealed more than 9.8 million players have signed up to the Switch Online service. This figure excludes free trial memberships and includes family memberships.
In addition to this, he briefly touched on the battle royale game Tetris 99. As you might already know, it’s been out since February and can be played by anyone who signs up to the NSO. Since it was launched, it has been played by 2.8 million accounts and has boosted user engagement with the Nintendo Switch. The plan is to implement more in-game events in the future to encourage consumers to keep enjoying the game.
The president also noted how NSO users are still enjoying the NES Library, which provides instant access to a variety of classic games. The aim is to make these services “more attractive” over the long-term.
What do you think about Furukawa’s comments about the Nintendo Switch Online service? Tell us below.
Version 1.3.0 of Super Mario Odyssey update adds three new mini-missions where you collect musical notes and coins as you revisit the Cap, Seaside and Luncheon Kingdoms. Below are the full patch notes:
Now supporting Toy-Con VR Goggles from the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit.
Go to “Playing in VR” from the menu to start the game.
Several issues have been fixed to improve gameplay experience.
In version 1.6.0 of Breath of the Wild, there’s a new option in the menu to activate the Toy-Con VR Goggles. Once you’ve done this, you’ll be able to enjoy Link’s epic adventure on Switch like never before. Here are the changes:
We have made the game compatible with the VR Goggles from Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit.
You can set whether you’d like to use the VR Goggles from “VR Goggles” in “Options” under “System” in the in-game menu.
This feature is also introduced on the Nintendo Labo website.
We fixed some other issues so the player can enjoy the game.
Have you tried out this update yet? Tell us what you think below!
The 2D action-platformer Katana Zero is absolutely killing it on the Nintendo Switch right now – in more ways than one.
According to the game’s publisher Devolver Digital, it has managed to become the company’s second fastest selling game on Nintendo’s hybrid platform, right behind the 2017 hit, Enter the Gungeon.
Shout out to @askiisoft as Katana ZERO is our second fastest selling Nintendo Switch game behind Enter the Gungeon! Thrilled for the dev team and thankful for the support of @NintendoAmerica and @NintendoEurope!
Although no exact figures were provided by the publisher, not long after this, Katana Zero’s developer Askiisoft revealed the Switch and PC version had surpassed a combined total of 100,000 sales in the game’s launch week.
The developer also mentioned how work on the first free DLC, including a speedrun mode, was already underway:
Thank you so much for playing and sharing Katana ZERO – we’re excited that we’ve sold over 100,000 copies in the first week! Work on the first free DLC plus a speedrun mode is underway.
Last week, we found out the game had become Devolver Digital’s most pre-ordered Nintendo Switch title to-date, surpassing pre-order demand for games such as The Messenger, Minit and Downwell.
Have you downloaded Katana Zero on the Switch yet? What do you think of it so far? Tell us below.
Last week, the Nintendo Switch Online app got a little bit more attention than usual when the latest update for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released on the Nintendo Switch.
The mobile application also received an update, allowing users to view shared custom-made stages and then download them directly to their game. While it’s not much, the iOS version of this Nintendo app has now apparently received an update. As with a lot of Nintendo software updates, the details are incredibly vague. Version 1.5.1 makes a number of bug fixes, but nothing else is mentioned beyond this. The Android version of this update is expected to roll out soon.
Have you been using this smartphone application since the Stage Builder mode arrived in Ultimate? Were you using it prior to this for voice chat and to access extra data and content in games like Splatoon 2? What else would you like to see added to it?
It almost looks like a Nintendo Switch lifestyle shot
One of the most popular web television series on YouTube right now is Cobra Kai. It picks up exactly thirty-four years after the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament at the end of the iconic film The Karate Kid, where Daniel LaRusso (played by Ralph Macchio) defeats his rival Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka).
The new series is currently in its second season and while it’s mostly filled with a lot of flashbacks to the original films, there are also a lot of modern cultural references thrown in for good measure. For example, throughout season two, the popular television and book series Game of Thrones is name-dropped, and in the first and last episode, Daniel’s son Anthony “Antonio” LaRusso can be seen playing a Nintendo Switch.
In the previous season (released on YouTube last year), the character is spotted playing Tekken on a PlayStation Vita:
The sixth episode of season one – Daniel wonders why kids are so obsessed with technologyWho could resist Tekken?
Of course, the roles have been reversed in the past when Atlus brought The Karate Kid to NES back in 1987, a game which loosely followed the action of the first and second films.
It seems like a positive sign for Nintendo when one of the most popular web television series of 2018 – and one that’s likely to be similarly huge in 2019 – has swapped from a Sony console to its hybrid system. Then again, it has been a natural move for many gamers in the real world as support for PS Vita dries up. You’ve got to hand it to Sony’s portable, though – it has hung around long after first party support ended and it’s always been a nice little system; Switch should be proud to pick up where Vita left off.
Are you a fan of the Karate Kid? Have you been watching Cobra Kai? Do you think movies, television and web series are an effective way to promote video games? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
It’s been many years now since Xbox 360 introduced its achievement system and added an extra layer of gamification to your games. Microsoft’s system-level Gamerscore was introduced way back in 2005 (that’s right, fourteen long years ago). That little dopamine hit on hearing the ‘Achievement Unlocked’ sound struck a chord with a whole generation of gamers and they soon became an addiction. Bragging rights for grabbing the most obscure, most difficult ones made adding to your Gamerscore a point of pride for many.
Valve soon followed suit on Steam and Sony’s Trophy system made the word ‘platinum’ a verb. Nintendo gamers, however, never got to experience that sweet, sweet addiction – not at a system level. Many titles implement the achievements used elsewhere into the game itself, but Nintendo has never created a similar framework of its own.
If we’re honest, after fourteen years achievements have fallen off our personal radar somewhat, and wouldn’t rank particularly highly on a wish list of features for future Nintendo consoles. We’ve got used to not having them. Of course, they’d be a fun extra, but we’re not clamouring for them like we did a decade ago. In fact, we thought that was the general feeling amongst Nintendo gamers, but a quick scan of social media shows that there’s still a healthy appetite for a platform-wide system on Switch:
With Xbox achievements arriving on Switch in due course thanks to the release of Cuphead and Xbox Live integration, it seems to have reignited people’s passion for the little pop-ups. Calls for Nintendo to ‘get with the times’ are easy to hear, although for a company that believes ‘the true value of entertainment lies in its uniqueness’, implementing a system based on a competitor’s fourteen-year-old success hardly showcases the ‘Nintendo difference’, does it?
Still, it’s a feature that many players crave. Personally, we’ve fallen out of love with them a bit, for various reasons. For every game that uses them creatively and encourages you to experiment or play a different way than you might otherwise, there’s another which simply doles out the cheevos as you finish a level. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but they lose significance to us if they’re simply a mark of progress – sure, you can ‘prove’ to your online mates that you’ve completed a game, but that’s not enough of a draw.
They’re not particularly developer-friendly, either. Microsoft’s mandate that all games were required to include unlockable achievements created extra work for game devs, and its easy to understand why so many take the uninspired form of ‘You completed Level 3!’ or ‘You jumped 10,000 times!’ It’s another layer of work added to each platform the game releases on, and while it’s often easy to track certain player stats and actions (especially on modern platforms), it can be more difficult for smaller indies already crunching to get the game running and not wanting to tack on a bunch of dull, token achievements after they’ve worked so hard on the core game. Being creative takes time and the best achievements are imaginative and playful.
They can be mighty intrusive, too. You’ve just completed some emotionally significant narrative moment – shot a traitorous friend, galloped into the sunset or whatever other video game scenario you care to remember/invent – and up pops the notification. You’ve completed a game, spending hours battling your way to a reckoning and you sit there, bathing in emotional and physical catharsis as the screen fades to black… doop-doop! ‘Achievement Unlocked – Winner Winner!’
We’re exaggerating, of course, and other platforms do allow you to mute notifications, but a platform-wide system is inherently ignorant of the actual content of the game, so if a developer hasn’t thought carefully about how achievements will unlock across all supported platforms, you often get these pop-ups destroying the atmosphere of a tender or significant moment. These interruptions occur on Switch already, of course. While playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice a couple of weeks ago, emotionally striking and heavy moments were repeatedly interrupted by Switch telling us that ‘Tony80085 is online’ (a pseudonym has been used to protect Tony’s true identity, but we do wish he’d make his bloody mind up!).
Despite Switch not having an overarching infrastructure, many games implement their own achievements lists, and perhaps that’s enough. No, you don’t get the platform-wide integration or that satisfying unlock sound, but we’re rational human beings for crying out loud! Do we really need that – or even want it – in all our games?
Perhaps the best place they could fit in on Switch would be the selection of retro titles that come with your Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Little objectives could provide some of the focus lost with the introduction of save states and give players an incentive to revisit those old classics on the service. Many of us have fired it up, dipped into a few classics before losing interest and closing it down after a few minutes. The wall of games arguably induces paralysis and it somehow feels ‘easier’ – or more satisfying – to play something else despite loving stone-cold classics like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Zelda.
Save states would render anything as boring as ‘Achievement Unlocked: You finished 8-4!’ utterly pointless, so Nintendo would have to be very creative – very different – with its challenges. We’ve seen that the company is happy to play with these classics with the SP versions it’s been dropping and the service only contains a small selection of games, which would make a blanket ‘system-level’ structure possible where it would otherwise only be realistic (logistically speaking) from the very start of a console cycle. Others have already taken the trouble to gamify retro titles in this way – Retro Achievements has been doing it for ages.
There are plenty of opinions available on the subject of achievements, and the most interesting ones tend to come from game designers themselves. Keith Burgun and Chris Hecker’s thoughts are worth a read and delve more deeply into ideas of intrinsic versus extrinsic rewards and the mechanics of how achievements actually work.
They used to be the new thing – an incredible bit of seasoning to go along with Xbox Live on the 360 – and we have fond memories of them, but now achievements themselves are almost retro. Some would argue that they’ve had their heyday and it’s probably time to forget about them. Nintendo-only gamers never sampled their addictive properties in the first place, but anybody who has gone cold turkey with Switch need only hear that little unlock ‘dong’ once to have their nostalgia booted up and experience little ‘cheevy cravings.
What are your thoughts on achievements at a system-wide level? Do you still care about them on other platforms? Have Nintendo gamers really missed out? Feel free to share your thoughts with a comment and vote in our poll.
