SuperData estimates 1.5m Switch sales

Analyst SuperData has said that it believes Nintendo sold 1.5 Switch consoles worldwide.

The number was calculated by adding together the estimated 500k US sales, 360k Japanese sales and data from across Europe. Switch sold around 80k in the UK, for instance, and an estimated 110k in France.

Nintendo had previously said that it aimed to sell 2m Switch consoles by the end of the month – a number it looks to have a good chance of now hitting.

The big driver is the critical smash that is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, which SuperData says was purchased by 89 per cent of Switch owners. That of course means nearly 1.35m sales for the game on Switch alone, to which sales on Wii U must be added.

Nintendo has yet to official reveal any sales figures for the console, stating merely that it has set a new Nintendo record for launch hardware sales in the US and across Europe as a whole.

Everyone knows of course that the challenge now is for the system to maintain its momentum. Any new Nintendo hardware is going to fly out of the gate as the company’s dedicated fan base snap it up at launch. Appealing beyond this audience, however, will be the key to Switch’s long-term future, and it’s too early to tell whether it will succeed in this regard.

Certainly reports of hardware problems will not help in the short-term, although Nintendo has now come out and insisted that there are no systemic problems.

SuperData predicted earlier this month that the Switch will sell around 5m units by the end of the year. That would be a pretty decent performance for the machine when you consider that the Switch’s predecessor, the Wii U, only hit 14m in its entire lifetime.

The biggest challenge for Nintendo is to convince console gamers to purchase the Switch as a second device, as many have already committed to a PlayStation 4 (53.4m installed base, worldwide) or Xbox One (26m),” SuperData said at the time.

Asking $300 for a new console without a bundled game is a comparatively higher barrier to entry for consumers, considering that the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are already discounted and come with a free game.”