We reported earlier that Nintendo is doing well. No kidding. The Switch is on fire. The company posted a bunch of sales numbers overnight, and we at Kotaku HQ have been discussing which is the most stunning. Let’s just say that we’re not all in agreement. Which is your pick? (Please say it’s the Splatoon one.)
The following figures were all pulled from Nintendo’s official investor relations site:
- Nintendo has already sold far more Switches in just the first nine month of the system’s release than it did Wii U systems in a little over five years. That’s 14.86 million Switches as of December 31, 2017 compared to 13.56 million Wii U systems.
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of The Wild was a red-hot release that sold 6.7 million copies in nine months last year. But then Mario Odyssey came out in late October and in just two months sold 9.07 million copies.
- More than half the people who bought a Wii U bought Mario Kart 8: 8.4 million copies sold. That’s over three and a half years. Nintendo then ported this game that all those people played over to Switch, charged full price again, and sold 7.33 million copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Switch. The Switch port looks like it will easily outsell its predecessor.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a JRPG that came out in December after nearly every other big game was released in 2017, has sold 1.06 million copies.
- Splatoon 2 for Switch, which was released in July of last year, has sold, as of the end of 2017, 4.91 million copies. The first Splatoon for Wii U, which was released in May 2015, has sold, as of the end of 2017, 4.91 million copies. The same number. Is that a typo? Or is that just the most amazing stat on this list?
There you have it: a bunch of Nintendo stats we’ve been discussing. Which one (the Splatoon one) would you say is the most incredible?
Comments
10 responses to “Which New Nintendo Stat Is Most Impressive?”
The Xenoblade 2 sales are the most surprising I think. That’s a huge number for a niche JRPG, especially one that’s a platform exclusive to a system with not that much hardware sold – means roughly 1 in 14 Switch owners bought it!
XC2 did really well for the install base, excellent sales for the series and surely will keep monolithsoft going.
ARMS has already outsold Tekken 7 and MvC, and isn’t that far behind SFV.
BOTW is on track to be the best selling zelda game ever. Mario probably will do it too, it’s only got 3 million to go to beat galaxy/64.
To be fair, I’ve got Youtube videos that have been watched more times than people have bought MvCI.
It, um, did not do well, is what I’m getting at here.
(Also ARMS is great and I would love a sequel.)
This is a pretty good case for porting many more Wii U games to the Switch, in particular Smash 4.
At this point wouldn’t it be better to hope for a new one rather than just a port?
Nah people love buying the same old thing over and over again apparently.
well actually this is true. I had a WiiU and all these games (MK, Smash etc…) and am more than happy to repurchase to have the ability to take it everywhere with me. Port the lot I say. So many people didn’t play the WiiU and it’s best games, now they can. Don’t underestimate the allure of portabiliy……the sole reason for this console’s success
And some people played the shit out of the Wii U, and are waiting for something new.
For me the Switch is a console, the portable nature just means I can easily move it between rooms or take it to a LAN without necessarily having to have a screen there. Handheld is practically useless with how terrible the joyons are, only something like Skull & Co’s GripCase makes it anywhere near usable.
If I want to play an old game I’ll just pull it off the shelf, the Switch needs some new releases to maintain any kind of appeal to me as anything other than a Splatoon machine.
why not both? Gimme all the Wii U ports AND new stuff. I don’t know why they don’t just make all the Wii U stuff direct ports and just digital download. That way they won’t lose out on any production costs if they don’t sell.
The solution one could actually be a little bad. Does it mean that every one who bought the original bought the second? If it did that’s no new customers towards the tittle, which is bad. Sure repeat business is good but you always want to be expanding sales as well.