{"id":121860,"date":"2020-12-10T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/375093"},"modified":"2020-12-10T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T21:05:00","slug":"best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/12\/10\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Best of 2020: Nintendo Switch Game Sales &#8211; The Three Biggest Misconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <!-- Google Tag Manager --> <!-- End Google Tag Manager --> &lt;!&#8211;  &#8211;&gt;  <title>Gamasutra: Simon Carless&#8217;s Blog &#8211; Nintendo Switch Game Sales: The Three Biggest Misconceptions<\/title>   <!--[if lt IE 9]&gt; <a href=\"http:\/\/html5shim.googlecode.com\/svn\/trunk\/html5.js\">http:\/\/html5shim.googlecode.com\/svn\/trunk\/html5.js<\/a> &lt;![endif]--> <!-- CSS -->                    <!-- link href=\"https:\/\/twimgs.com\/gamasutra\/css\/minified.css\" rel=\"stylesheet\" type=\"text\/css\" \/ -->    <!-- Mobile Specific Metas -->  <!-- Start Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- End Visual Website Optimizer Asynchronous Code --> <!-- Start HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- End HeatMap.me Code --> <!-- Start: GPT Sync --> <!-- End: GPT -->    <!-- Eloqua tracking code --> <!-- End Eloqua tracking code -->  <!-- Google Tag Manager (noscript) -->  <!-- End Google Tag Manager (noscript) --> <!--Cookie banner code starts here --> <!--Cookie banner code ends here --> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> <\/p>\n<div id=\"iribbon-container\" class=\"content-body-wrapper\"> <button id=\"iribbon-title\" title=\"show\/hide\" class=\"inactive\">Informa<\/button> <\/p>\n<div id=\"iribbon-detail\" class=\"ribbon-hide\">\n<div id=\"iribbon-left\">\n<p>Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"iribbon-right\">\n<p>This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC&#8217;s registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <!-- Informa Branding code goes here--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 19 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[2,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 19 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 20 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[7,7]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 20 --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div id=\"container-main\" class=\"content-body-wrapper\"> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads start here--> <!-- Google Prestitial Ads end here--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"container bottom3\">\n<div class=\"span-7\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions.png\" alt=\"Gamasutra: The Art &amp; Business of Making Games\" width=\"243\" height=\"77\" border=\"0\"><\/a><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"spacer\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions.gif\" width=\"27\"> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"span-20\"> <!--end show phone--> <!--end showphone--> <!--end nav--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"span-20 last content_bg\">\n<div class=\"hide-phone\">\n<div class=\"span-4\">\n<div class=\"content_box_left\">\n<div class=\"leftcol\"> <!--member login--> <!--end memberlogin--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--begin social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--end social icons--> <!--begin page numbers--> <!--end page numbers--> <!--begin leftnav--> <!--end leftnav--> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 3 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 3 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 4 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,59]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 4 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 5 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,409]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 5 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 9 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 9 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 11 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[164,177]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 11 --> <!-- begin event tickers --> <!-- end event tickers --> <!--begin jobs--> <!--end jobs--> <!--begin blogs--> <!--end blogs--> <!--begin press releases--> <!--end press releases--> <!--begin calendar--> &lt;!&#8211; <\/p>\n<div class=\"header\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"arrow\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-1.png\" width=\"22px\" height=\"20px\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar.php\">Calendar<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"leftnav bottom2\"> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar.php\"><strong>View All<\/strong><\/a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/calendar\/calendar_submit.php\"><strong>Submit Event<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul> <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p> &#8211;&gt; <!--end calendar--> <!--begin about--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom2\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/advertise\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions.jpg\" alt=\"Sponsor\" border=\"0\" class=\"whiteTop\" width=\"177px\" height=\"60px\"> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!--end about--> <!--begin network--> <\/p>\n<div class=\"leftnav_network bottom2\"> If you enjoy reading this site, you might also want to check out these UBM Tech sites: <\/p>\n<hr>\n<hr>\n<p> <br class=\"clear\">\n<\/div>\n<p> <!--end network--> <!--begin store--> <!--end store--> <\/div>\n<p><!--end leftcol--> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"span-16 last\">\n<div class=\"content_box_middle\"> <!-- InstanceBeginEditable name=\"BodyContent\" --> <\/p>\n<div class=\"page_item\">\n<div><a name=\"twitter_share\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com?status=RT @gamasutra: Nintendo Switch Game Sales: The Three Biggest Misconceptions http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/SimonCarless\/20200630\/365691\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-1.gif\" alt=\"Share on Twitter\" border=\"0\" height=\"20\"><\/a>  <span id=\"edit_post_link\"><\/span>&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/blogs\/rss\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-2.gif\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" border=\"0\" alt=\"RSS\"><\/a> <\/div>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"item_body mobile_image_transform\"> <strong><i><small> The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra\u0092s community.<br \/>The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company. <\/small><\/i><\/strong> <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><em>[Hi, I\u2019m \u2018how people find your game\u2019 expert&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.simoncarless.com\/about\/\">Simon Carless<\/a>, and you\u2019re reading&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/\">the Game Discoverability Now! newsletter<\/a>, which you <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\">can subscribe to now<\/a><\/strong>, a regular look at how people discover and buy video games in the 2020s.]<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F884116e7-c003-45a1-a761-3a5decd0ce78_800x309.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/884116e7-c003-45a1-a761-3a5decd0ce78_800x309.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:309,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:86668,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-1.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Welcome to the latest in a series of research\/analysis pieces about the Nintendo Switch, probably still the hottest console platform for small and medium-sized indies looking to launch on multiple platforms.<\/p>\n<p>(A good indication of this? A game marketing\/discovery Discord I recently joined has a \u2018Steam\u2019 channel, a \u2018Switch\u2019 channel, and then an \u2018Other Stores\u2019 channel. My words, not theirs, folks.)<\/p>\n<p>In my&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/gamediscoverability.substack.com\/p\/game-discoverability-and-the-nintendo\">most recent piece on the Switch<\/a>&nbsp;about a month ago, I talked about some of the aggressive discounting and changed expectations on the platform. But it was more of a \u2018what Nintendo might change on the eShop\u2019 article.<\/p>\n<p>So now I\u2019m going to approach it from another angle. Simply &#8211; \u2018<strong>what major misconceptions does the average developer have about the state of the Nintendo Switch market right now?<\/strong>\u2019<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc4860416-1c0e-4a80-ac2e-4e68af810bca_800x110.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/c4860416-1c0e-4a80-ac2e-4e68af810bca_800x110.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:110,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:28171,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-2.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Using the eShop charts as \u2018gospel\u2019 for success<\/h2>\n<p>Look, there\u2019s no two ways about it &#8211; the \u201814 days rolling sales based on # of units\u2019 eShop chart methodology is better than \u20181 day rolling\u2019, in that it stops games&nbsp;<strong>immediately<\/strong>&nbsp;shooting to the top of the charts when massively discounted. (They take a few days.)<\/p>\n<p>But it really confuses things when games sell a gigantic amount of copies discounted. Why? Well, let\u2019s say something sells 3,000-5,000 copies a day for 7 days at 95+% off, and then reverts to full price. How long would it take to disappear from the Top 30, just because X of its 14 days have LOTS of copies sold? I have an answer for that:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Started to track the Nintendo Switch eShop charts in detail, &amp; the quirks of it being &#8216;unit sales, last 14 days&#8217; are significant. For example, Kotodama (<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kUlgxI6VcO\">https:\/\/t.co\/kUlgxI6VcO<\/a>) took 10 days to leave the Top 30 (!) after its &#8216;97% off&#8217; discount ended.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Simon Carless (@simoncarless) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/simoncarless\/status\/1276933715617124352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019ve been told that those \u201890%+ off\u2019 games don\u2019t sell many copies at full price (as they move down the charts again). But for anyone idly checking the charts for those 10 days (players or devs!) to see what\u2019s popular &#8211; you don\u2019t get any context on the fact these games used to be 99c or less.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, I\u2019m sure a few people are making development decisions because they checked the chart AFTER a game stopped being discounted, and thought it was doing great at full price. In effect, the chart becomes a minefield of \u2018used to be cheap, but nobody can tell\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>So if you\u2019re looking for the winners on Switch, spend some time looking at the non-discounted games, or at the price history of certain games. (<a href=\"https:\/\/eshop-prices.com\/\">eShop Prices<\/a>&nbsp;is pretty good for price history, but remember Europe and North America can be discounted different amounts at different times, sigh.)<\/p>\n<p>And I may start working on a tool to better expose this information, since getting to \u2018actual revenue success\u2019 on Switch right now is a little bit painful. (The&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/bigosaur.com\/eShopRank\/data.php?month=2020-05\">Bigosaur revenue-adjusted Switch charts<\/a>&nbsp;are a great starting point, but would love to see more depth and more frequent updates.)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2357db6c-52a3-4acb-8833-5242d502af3f_800x110.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/2357db6c-52a3-4acb-8833-5242d502af3f_800x110.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:110,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:28171,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-3.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>You heard great things about Switch game sales<\/h2>\n<p>Early on, Nintendo was keen to broadcast some very impressive sales numbers for indies on Switch &#8211; as they should! In April 2018, for example,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.siliconera.com\/stardew-valley-hits-nearing-1-million-overcooked-500000-sales-switch\/\">they announced<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cStardew Valley [\u2026] is heading for global sales of 1 million units after being released last October in the US and Europe, and then in Japan at the start of this year. And Overcooked: Special Edition, which was released last summer in Japan and other markets, has already sold over a half-million units.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Other numbers have leaked out directly from devs &#8211; for example Dead Cells&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nintendosoup.com\/dead-cells-sold-over-100000-units-on-switch-in-its-first-week-huge-update-coming-in-q1-2019\/\">selling 100,000 copies in its first week<\/a>&nbsp;in January 2019, or Moonlighter&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/nintendoeverything.com\/moonlighter-sells-150000-copies-on-switch-500000-units-total-between-dimensions-dlc-announced\/\">selling 150,000 copies on Switch<\/a>&nbsp;out of its 500,000 total, as of April 2019.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think Nintendo officially allows you to release sales numbers for your games. (But I\u2019m sure they don\u2019t mind if they are largely positive. And no dev wants to be the person to put their hand up and say \u2018actually, our game sold not so well on the Switch\u2019.)<\/p>\n<p>So\u2026 people haven\u2019t. And with no publicly comparable data (not even player numbers), you may get a skewed impression. But here\u2019s some things I suspect &#8211; things that have changed going into early 2020:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>There were 40 games released for Switch last week, according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/icopartners.com\/switch-newsletter\/\">ICO\u2019s Switch newsletter<\/a>. I\u2019m going to hazard a guess that 50% of them sold less than 1,000 copies in their first week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Conversely, on the high end, perennially charting games like Stardew Valley are STILL selling 10,000 to 20,000 copies per week, even many months or years after coming out. And some other titles (Summer In Mara, for example!) are doing that well in their initial week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The \u2018long tail\u2019 seems suboptimum for Switch games at regular price compared to, say, Steam. This is why people are resorting to extreme discounting &#8211; because they can\u2019t really get many sales at all after the initial release hit, unless they discount. (This may be store discoverability-related, Switch player behavior-related, game suitability for the platform-related, or all of the above.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So I\u2019m guessing that 50%-70% of new Switch releases will gross less than $100,000 lifetime &#8211; at least before the severe discounts.<\/p>\n<p>My overall point here: when Switch was less crowded, everyone would suggest \u2018look, come on over and publish on the Switch, it\u2019s where you make most of your money\u2019. Some people are still saying that.<\/p>\n<p>But those people often released their game in 2018 or early 2019, before the rush hit. But we have triple or quadruple the amount of games now available, some very high quality, with more extreme discounts. So I just don\u2019t think that\u2019s correct any more.<\/p>\n<p>However, Switch is still a very useful platform as part of a multi-platform portfolio. Porting to it shouldn\u2019t be that complex, if you use a mainstream game engine, and Nintendo has a friendly and helpful submission process.<\/p>\n<p>So I see it more like \u2018this is part of your strategy, as is publishing on other consoles, as is publishing on Steam\u2019. Thus\u2026 don\u2019t discount (haha!) your Switch plans, just have realistic expectations based on where the market is now.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb3bef244-1173-478e-961e-f6bddf3e5606_800x110.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/b3bef244-1173-478e-961e-f6bddf3e5606_800x110.jpeg&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:110,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:28171,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-4.jpg\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Switch is great &#8211; but for premium games only?<\/h2>\n<p>I mainly hear people talking about paid premium games on Switch. One thing that\u2019s been curiously under-discussed on Switch is the state of free to play games on the service.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s true that you probably wouldn\u2019t want to launch a Switch-exclusive F2P title (though&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/games\/detail\/ninjala-switch\/\">Ninjala<\/a>&nbsp;is currently one of those, haha!) But there are certain sort options in the Switch eShop which allow you to see charts ranked by total downloads of all games over the last 14 days, including free games.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the Game Discoverability Now!-compiled rundown for both North America and Europe (in this case, the Netherlands) for the middle of last week:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.substack.com\/image\/fetch\/c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa6491630-913b-4d4c-8a06-7b4fe804650e_1306x761.png\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/a6491630-913b-4d4c-8a06-7b4fe804650e_1306x761.png&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:761,&quot;width&quot;:1306,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:169528,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null}\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-2.png\" width=\"600\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>So as you can see, about half of the top 50 games in Europe ranked by total downloads are free to play games! Surprising, huh? And were you expecting some of these titles (WarFace, Asphalt 9) in the top 10 F2P games by download on Switch? Probably not, I\u2019m guessing.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, F2P downloads only convert to paying users in a fraction of cases (1.5%-5%? I don\u2019t really know on Switch.) But then again, it\u2019s possible a few of those players end up eventually end up spending hundreds of dollars or more.<\/p>\n<p>So I wouldn\u2019t say F2P is a \u2018first port of call\u2019, but if you already have a F2P game monetizing well on another console, and you think Nintendo would consider giving it a feature when you launch on Switch\u2026 it\u2019s a little bit tempting, right?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"hide-phone\">\n<h3>Related Jobs<\/h3>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/mid-to-senior-worldbuilder-unreal-engine-austin-texas-34490\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-5.jpg\" alt=\"Airship Syndicate\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/assistant-professor-of-game-design-ndash-tenure-track-southfield-michigan-34676\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-6.jpg\" alt=\"Lawrence Technological University\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/intermediate-senior-fx-artist-london-ontario-34285\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-7.jpg\" alt=\"Digital Extremes Ltd.\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"stories_item\">\n<div class=\"thumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.gamasutra.com\/job\/environment-artist-london-ontario-33439\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-7.jpg\" alt=\"Digital Extremes Ltd.\" width=\"120\"><\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<hr><\/div>\n<p> <!-- InstanceEndEditable --> <\/div>\n<p><!--end contentbox-->\n<\/div>\n<p><!--end span-16--> <\/div>\n<p> <br class=\"clear\"> <\/div>\n<p><!--end span-21--> <!--begin right sidebar--> <!--end right sidebar--> &lt;!&#8211; <\/div>\n<p> Extra Div &#8211;&gt; <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 21 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[8,2]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 21 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 22 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[8,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 22 --> <!-- Beginning Sync AdSlot 23 for Ad unit Gamasutra\/\/consolepc ### size: [[4,4]] --> <!-- End AdSlot 23 --> <br class=\"clear\"><\/p><\/div>\n<p><!--end content-body-wrapper--> <\/div>\n<p><!--end container--><br \/>\n<!--begin footer--> <!--end footer--> <!-- SiteCatalyst code version: H.21.\nCopyright 1996-2010 Adobe, Inc. All Rights Reserved\nMore info available at http:\/\/www.omniture.com --> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omniture.com\" title=\"Web Analytics\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/best-of-2020-nintendo-switch-game-sales-the-three-biggest-misconceptions-3.gif\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" border=\"0\" alt><\/a><!--\/DO NOT REMOVE\/--><br \/>\n<!-- End SiteCatalyst code version: H.21. --> <!-- Begin ADSNATIVE Code --> <!-- End ADSNATIVE Code --> <!--Begin Ad script for pixel --> <!--END Ad script for pixel -->  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&lt;!&#8211; &#8211;&gt; Gamasutra: Simon Carless&#8217;s Blog &#8211; Nintendo Switch Game Sales: The Three Biggest Misconceptions Informa Gamasutra is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC&#8217;s registered office is 5 Howick Place, London [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}