Nintendo's latest console has been slaying worldwide unit sales surpassing the initial 2 million units sold goal. Nintendo Switch is taking the world by storm the same way Nintendo surprised the industry with its last year's hit, Pokémon GO. Despite the console's success, whether the Switch will save Nintendo still remains uncertain.
Switch Sales Can't Save Nintendo
Nintendo still remains in an unfavorable business environment according to Quartz. Like countless of other companies, Nintendo finds itself challenged by the rise of smartphones and mobile gaming. Although Nintendo got lucky with Pokémon GO's enormous success for its attempt to make a mark in the mobile gaming market, the company only gets a portion of that revenue due to Niantic's licensing and development deals. The role of knight in shining denim fell into the hands of everyone's favorite Italian plumber when it released Super Mario Run, but a $9.99 price tag to play the full version seemed too steep for most.
Serkan Toto, an industry analyst in Japan says Nintendo needs to work harder in the mobile market because the Switch's success is short-lived. The main reason for Switch's success is, of course, its main title The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. People are buying the console just because they want to play the new Zelda game and this open-world nostalgia trip throughout Hyrule is an overall pleasant experience that exceeded expectations.
Nintendo Will Launch New Handheld
Nintendo announced today that it won't be hosting a large-scale, traditional press conference onstage during E3 2017. The last classic press briefing the company held was back in 2012 and since then posted pre-recorded videos and hosted live streams in lieu of the typical theater event. According to Polygon, Nintendo will likely focus on the Switch and the console's major upcoming titles such as Super Mario Odyssey, Arms, and Splatoon 2 plus updates on a number of third-party titles.
Nintendo also announced that it will launch the new handheld Nintendo 2DS XL in July for $149.99. "We will strive to utilize the large installed base of the Nintendo 3DS family of systems in our business to maintain the momentum we have regained over the last year," Kinishima said on the lifetime sales of 3DS systems. The handheld devices sold 63 million units worldwide, and thus will not be abandoned by Nintendo anytime soon.
