How much of a success is the Switch? Let’s take a deep look.

For a system that farms the console and mobile market all at once, it did average at best.

Yep, these things have been stated countless times before. Maybe without fudging other companies numbers into it, but still. The Vita and Dreamcast inclusions are unnecessary in the point you're trying to illustrate and the reasoning doesn't really work.

Regardless, Switch is a huge success no matter how you slice it. Put up big numbers, profitable every step of the way, seeing bonkers software sales for their 1st party games, seeing the most 3rd party software since the SNES.

Doubt Nintendo considers this thing anything but a win.

Big success. I’m sure there were plenty of people who owned both the Nintendo home consoles and handheld systems in previous generations so you can’t simply say that the Switch needs to sell the total of those two to be considered successful. It streamlined everything for both Nintendo and the consumer. I’m sure Nintendo is quite satisfied with the result. I know I am.

It's a smashing success.... Doesn't matter how you feel about it personally. It will he remembered as an all time Nintendo great.

Huge success despite the weaker hardware.

Definitely a big success, accompanied with a solid library of games.

As a console, it's a failure, as a handheld it's a success.

There one in the same really.

On topic: The Switch is what the failure Wii U should have been. If Iwata was still around, (R.I.P) he be proud how the Switch turned out to be a successful device. Anyway, the Switch is without a doubt a great gaming device that's both a console & a handheld you can play how you see fit. Sad to say but it seems I'm the only system war user who loves using the handheld feature over playing it on my TV and I do play it at work whenever I have down time to do so. Nintendo's best console but SNES is still king IMO.

@davillain: I disagree, as a console its underpowered tech when its a next (now current) gen machine, when you compare it to other hanheld devices its a big succes. Sales isn't the only measure of success.

For me the 64 is Nintendo's best comsole.

@last_lap: Fair enough. I won't disagree on its hardware spec. It didn't aged well and it wasn't a problem until later on, AAA games got heavy demands and the Switch was kinda behind the times what it was packing. Of course, it's exclusives make up for owning one. And yes, the N64 was also amazing, it got me into loving FPS games.

@davillain: Yeah if was just a handhold you can forgive it, but is has a dock and its pretty poor.

Being a Sega man from the start I never played much SNES, at that time, It was only when I got a 64 for the wrestling games (still has the best to this day) I slowly started to buy more Nintendo stuff.

So was it Goldeneye that got you into fps?

The Switch is a huge success at anything but hardware power.

Dav wut. I know plenty of SW users love it for its handheld functionality. "On the go!" was the handwave for most of its crits for years lol.

Even if you forgot most of the users or arguments, handheld master Eroica already posted in this thread.

@ConanTheStoner: Eroica is the handheld master? Yes I believe he has both the Steam Deck and Switch, lucky him. I want to become a handheld master too, but Valve hasn’t released the Steam Deck here in Australia yet.

Valve + Nintendo = masters in handheld gaming

@lavamelon:

More just joking around with Dav for overlooking other handheld fans. But yeah, Eroica has definitely been one of the more outspoken fans of handhelds/hybrids over the years.

Steam Deck seems like a cool device, hopefully you can get your hands on one soon.

Personally, not interested. Used to buy just about every handheld that came out. Play a game or two and then they'd end up in a dresser drawer until I give them away years later. Probably got the most use out of my GBA. But even then, preferred just using the GBA addon for the Gamecube.

As for the Switch, 99.9% of the time, just playing it hooked up to a monitor.

Comparing hardware sales is pointless. You have to compare software sales as thats the point of the consoles.

Yup, the software sales for the system is probably the main reason I consider the switch a huge win.

Zelda, 3D Mario, Fire Emblem, Pokemon (barring Red and Blue), Kirby, Smash, Splatoon, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Metroid, Pikmin are all shattering records. Animal Crossing completely exploded with New Horizons outselling the rest of the series combined.

New IPs have also done well with Ring Fit Adventure having sold over 15 million copies.

It's a huge success. I like how after the Wii U failure they took risks and absolutely nailed it. I hope their next one is an hybrid too, although I use it 90% of the time as a home console I appreciate the portability aspect.

And yeah, their software sales are mighty impressive too.

@mesome713: I haven’t checked the software sales statistics of Switch in comparison with previous consoles. I will take a look into this soon.

Eh, Nintendont got kicked outta the big boy club of Console gaming. Thier only chance left was to merge their home gaming with handheld gaming so the Bait & Switch was born.

When you look at the Wii gen combined with their handheld numbers, this gen was basically nothing but a lateral move. :P

I voted massive success. I want everything in gaming to be succesfull.

Unless we're talking about mobile/tablet gaming, microtransactions, live services or lootboxes.

@ConanTheStoner: I'm referring to a poll we have once about who uses the handheld mode or play it on TV.

Its still going despite the competition.

making it a massive success

It's been a huge success no matter which way you slice the cake. Credit given where it's due.

I don’t know whether or not it’s a big success but I bought the Switch about six months ago and I like it. I don’t pay much attention to who likes it or not,I like it.

It's obviously a massive success. Huge hardware sales, huge software sales, tons of great first party games, tons of great third party games, tons of classics and indie titles. It's one of the all-time best consoles.

My switch has seen a total of about 30 minutes of TV time. Everything has been in handheld mode!

Switch is a huge success, here's to more successful handhelds!

Your comparisons don't make much sense however...

The Switch is a success in a business viewpoint and that matters. Anything else is opinion or fanboy conjucture.

It changed gaming forever

OP uses total logic failure to make spurious argument.

Let's forget about billions of smartphones so we can make a shit comparison to a previous era.

Yippee.

The hybrid design addressed my biggest criticism from the Wii/DS and WiiU/3DS days, and that's not giving both platforms equal support with Nintendo's signature 1st party IPs. Having the hybrid design remedies this, as it consolidated their userbase to make their games for on one system.

My primary letdown is the lack of digital BC retail, and relying on the subscription service model for BC.

Yet to be an issue during their next hardware leap will be around Nvidia. No doubt their tech helped Switch be a formidable hybrid, but Nvidia has a past of being rather shrewd and aggressive negotiators, and a history of burning bridges with their partners, and they will no doubt leverage their position in a next iteration leap, just to ask for more money, knowing potentially without their tech that forward compatibility of Nintendo's next device may be a big issue with consumers. I'd expect nothing less from them.

It's an incredible success... anyone who says otherwise is delusional.

It'll definitely go down as one of Nintendo's best systems. It's probably my favourite system of all time.

@hardwenzen:

Juanita has a 3DS and a Wii U. Juanita likes Switch, so she buys one. Because she bought the Switch, Nintendo has either lost a console sale OR a handheld sale. Juanita’s purchase does not count as TWO separate purchases like it did with Wii U and 3DS, which means that it cannot get ONE console sale and ONE handheld sale in the sales columns for Nintendo. Nope, Switch gets only ONE sale put in the column with Juanita’s purchase.

So, it’s probably more reasonable to take half of the 3DS numbers and half of the Wii U numbers and combine them, and then see how Switch fares considering Switch came immediately after the failure of the Wii U and the twilight years of the 3DS.

Half of Wii U sales = 6.78 million

Half of 3DS sales = 37.97 million

Combined half Wii U and half 3DS sales: 44.75 million

Total Switch sales = 122.55 million

Heck, the Switch even outdid the Wii U/3DS sales combined, which were 89.5 million.

It’s a resounding success, and it doesn’t “farm” mobile gamers when mobile gamers have their own platforms. That argument makes no sense.

It outdid a WiiU? So impressive that Nintendo themselves have abandoned the system as quickly as possible🤷‍♂️

The Switch has been farming the same demographic the Wii was, while also selling it to the nostalgic millennials. Compared to the Wii+DS or 3DS it did pathetically bad.

Huh? How did it do pathetically bad?

The Switch has outsold the 3DS.

Sometimes your arguments are so pathetically dumb, they almost hurt.

A 3ds is a handheld. A Switch is both, a handheld and a console. Farming two markets, and when compared to the Wii+a 3ds or a ds, it did like poopoo.

@hardwenzen: I already explained why that argument does not make sense. If a gamer “loyal” (for the sake of argument) to Nintendo handhelds buys a Switch, Switch gets one sale. If a gamer “loyal” to Nintendo consoles gets a Switch, Switch gets one sale. If someone who buys both Nintendo handhelds and consoles buys a Switch, Switch gets one sale. So Switch can either equal a saleor lose a sale on those scenarios.

And that’s if you pretend that every single gamer who bought a 3DS and/or every single gamer who bought a Wii U buys a Switch.

In reality, people leave, come into, or come back to gaming all the time. No matter how you slice it, Switch is an incredible success.

Switch is a success compared to what? The system does two things while everyone else does one. If you want to measure its success you compare it to two systems, one handheld and one console. Compared to that, it did poorly no matter how you slice it.

@hardwenzen: It might “do two things,” but it’s still ONE console. Switch doesn’t get a sale for being a console and a sale for being a handheld.

Also, it’s the third best selling gaming system of all time, and that’s after the debacle of the Wii U. That’s some comeback.

But you’re allowed to have an opinion on the matter. You don’t have to like Switch. I just don’t understand how, in any world, it’s a “failure.”

@hardwenzen: It might “do two things,” but it’s still ONE system. Switch doesn’t get a sale for being a console and a sale for being a handheld.

Also, it’s the third best selling gaming system of all time, and that’s after the debacle of the Wii U. That’s some comeback.

But you’re allowed to have an opinion on the matter. You don’t have to like Switch. I just don’t understand how, in any world, it’s a “failure.”

Its not one system, tho. It really is a DS and a Wii all at the same time. This will attract significantly more people than something that's only on-the-go, or a home console. You can't compare it to a PS5 or a 360. If Nintendo wants to "farm" the casual mom that plays Animal Crossing while being on a bus ride, and the nostalgic millennials that tries so hard to relive his childhood by playing anything with a Nintendo stamp on the box, well, you compare its success to another system like it, and of course, there's nothing similar on the market. Your only way of measurment is comparing it to the Wii with the DS or the 3DS. Also kinda funny how during the 3ds days, Nintendo found the time to release Wii/WiiU titles while also delivering 3ds games, but now that they have just one system to focus on, they're on autopilot, and completely forgot that releasing games for their system is a thing.

Plus being hilarious at the same time 🤣🤣

The Switch, a system that is farming two demographics is being rolled by the ps5. I think its safe to assume that the Switch is a disappointment, and if you could easily acquire a ps5 since release, it would've burried the Switch for three years straight. That's the difference between quality and chasing gimmicks.

@hrt_rulz01: Or tragic? But mesmerising either way.

@kathaariancode: Lol true.

@hardwenzen: Switch doesn’t have the dual screen gimmick of DS. It doesn’t focus on motion like Wii did. Its gimmick/feature is in the name.

And on its face, your argument about Nintendo being on auto-pilot seems somewhat valid at first, but handheld games were like bite-sized versions of bigger games until Switch came along.

The man-power to develop a handheld game in the past was not the same as developing a Nintendo blockbuster Switch game today.

Just look at Switch’s library. It has all the big hitters as far as first party titles. And Switch has been a third-party success as well, especially compared to Nintendo’s last three console offerings before Switch.

At this point, the only thing fans can truly complain about as far as first or second party releases are older niche franchises that have disappeared such as Star Fox, Earthbound, F-Zero, Chibi-robo, and Eternal Darkness.

Edit: Millennial nostalgia isn’t a good argument, as I think millennials also have nostalgia for PlayStation at this point too. I mean, it did come out in 1995 or something. A friend of mine has had brand loyalty to PlayStation since we both were in middle school. It goes both ways. And there’s nothing wrong with some good doses of nostalgia, especially when the core games are pretty darn good.

@SUD123456: how is it logic failure? It’s a well known fact that competitors leaving the market means that your own market share will increase.

Think about it this way: if you were the CEO of Pepsi, wouldn’t you be jumping for joy if your arch-nemesis Coca-Cola went bankrupt and stopped making drinks? Of course you would, you would hold massive celebrations in your office because you know that since Coca-Cola no longer exists, it means that Pepsi’s market share and profits would skyrocket.

I stand firmly with my comparisons. I believe they fit in perfectly with all manners of logic.