This week’s Media Create sales data has revealed that more than 519,504 Nintendo Switch units have now been sold in Japan, showing a promising first month at retail for the console.
The early success has outpaced PlayStation 4 which, after a strong Japanese launch weekend, suffered a dramatic slump in sales. That ultimately saw it take seven weeks before it crossed more than 500,000 units, which, comparatively, is a milestone that Nintendo Switch has achieved in four weeks.
That was likely spurred by the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire and new stock appearing at retailers, but The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch continue to drive the most interest – sitting second and third place in the software sales chart.
However, the hardware sales pace is slower in comparison to Wii U. The ill-fated console had sold 500,000 units within three weeks, although it’s worth remembering that it was sold at Christmas, and was accompanied with games such as Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, New Super Mario Bros. U, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, Nintendo Land and Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition.
With Nintendo Switch, it is clear that Nintendo is looking to maintain sales momentum by strategically pacing their releases out – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS and Splatoon 2 to release in the coming months.
