Nintendo set a lofty goal of selling 20 million Switch consoles for this fiscal year. However, halfway through the fiscal year, investors are worried that target won’t be hit. To assuage fears, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé pointed to Nintendo Switch revenue per user as another metric of success.
With 15 million more Switch consoles to sell before the fiscal year is over, Nintendo is facing an uphill battle. Last year’s holiday season saw Nintendo ship slightly over 10 million Switch systems, although that might not translate to more success this year. Talking with Forbes, Fils-Aimé said that he isn’t worried about a potentially missed sales target.
“We’re feeling confident in our momentum and it’s not just a stellar launch of Pokémon, it’s not just what appears to be a stellar launch for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate,” he said. “That Black Friday through Cyber Monday time frame was critically important to us, the remaining shopping days now through Christmas are critically important to us. More days right after Christmas as consumers receive gift cards or take unwanted gifts and monetize into things like Nintendo Switch are important to us.”
Fils-Aimé also brought up record-breaking stats for software. Super Mario Party shipped a million units, and became the fastest-selling title in the series. The Pokemon Let’s Go twins sold over 3 million copies their first week on sale. Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and Super Mario Odyssey are all sitting at over a 50 percent attach-rate. Fils-Aimé emphasized the wider picture for the platform.
“We’re looking at the overall software revenue that we’re generating,” said the Nintendo president. “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.”
Fils-Aimé isn’t worried about hitting that 20 million Switch sales, because the devices that are out there are bringing in money. People are buying games by the truckload for the Nintendo Switch, and developers are eager to satisfy that demand. Indie developers have flocked to the device, and larger studios are porting games over.
