The latest Media Create charts arrived on Wednesday and it was an incredible week for Nintendo with the Nintendo Switch and Super Smash Bros Ultimate selling shedloads of copies. What is interesting is that this week saw the Nintendo Switch surpass the PlayStation Vita life to date sales in Japan. The PlayStation Vita has proved to be popular in Japan and has sold 5,955,448. The Nintendo Switch has now sold 6,112,100.
Thanks N-Dub Nation
Congratulations. (golf clap)
Okay…
It’s a small step but I’m waiting for it to outsell the Playstation 4, now that will be a big achievement.
Not really because home consoles arent very relevant in japan anymore.
+Gamingfan2009
Last i checked; Japan wasn’t the entire world, just because Japan isn’t big on Home Consoles doesn’t automatically mean it wouldn’t be a big achievement.
In the Western World, Home Consoles are a big deal.
Hence why I said in japan.
It has a long way to go before outselling the ps4 wordwide lol. It may not even happen.
worldwide*
The Switch might just outsell the PS4 in Japan. Last time I checked, the PS4 was somewhere around 7-8m units sold… If the Switch is already at 6m, then it’s on course to outsell PS4 in Japan next year.
That said, it’s understandable since Japan is more focused on mobile and portable gaming, versus console gaming
+GamingFan2009
Well, you are technically right about Japan but it seems like a pretty moot point. If both systems were only out in Japan, yeah it wouldn’t be a big deal but since both systems are Worldwide, obviously it would be a big achievement due to my previous point.
Lmao your kidding right? I won’t outsell the PS4
No, I said it wouldnt be a big achievement if it outsold the ps4 in japan.
Still I’m hoping they announce a bit more stuff to feel excited about. MP4 is the single big release on the horizon and if the studio messes this up, it could even turn out bad (yes after Other M I think this still is a possibility).
Yoshi on the one hand is a must buy for me for my kiddos, but after they keep playing it save I know it will at no point really WOW me with creative leveldesign and be just a good, fun game and that’s it. Bayonetta 3 might become a huge game, but I don’t really like Bayonetta as a character and not sure if I’m gonna buy that. I mean, that’s kinda subjective of course, but after all these years I thought Nintendo would have had enough time to develop more contents. Zelda BotW was already kinda finished 1 year ahead of its release and some people in their team should’ve been able to work on new stuff. Looking at the flow of contents on the Switch, it feels like Nintendo is a studio with 80 employees who can only work on two big games at a time. I’m wondering where all their ressources are going. MK Deluxe was a rehash of an existing game and got released 1,5 yrs ago. Smash Bros comes from Bandai Namco. Odyssey was kinda finished when the Switch was released and held back for xmas 2017. MP4 is outsourced. ….
And now Nintendo doesn’t want to announce anything to make us excited and it looks like there’s a chance the Switch really could end up like the Vita becoming a machine that basically runs old 3rd party-ports and indie games.
I guess It won’t become like that but I’, also afraid the situation won’t become that much better either.
Good comment.
There’s other studios working on stuff as well. Your not excited for any other studios games ? I’m waiting for yokai watch from level 5. Shin Megami tensei from atlus. Daemon x Machina. Nintendo also has Luigi’s Mansion 3, animal crossing, fire emblem, pokemon all for next year. It’s looking like a big year for the switch much better than 2018 and I’m pretty sure there’s unannounced projects in the work.
This is purely your own opinion on what a “big” release is. There are plenty of what i consider big games on the horizon such as animal crossing,luigis mansion 3 and pokemon for a few but if metroid prime 4 is the only one its purely down to you. Its absolute nonsense to start trying to suggest theres a lack of games on Switch. If Zelda, Mario and Metroid is all you consider to be big or worth getting excited for you’re always going to be saying this kind of thing.
I think you’re underestimating the manpower needed to develop a modern videogame, but I do agree that Nintendo needs to shed some more light on their future games
They already have. 2019 is gonna be a huge impact from Nintendo and their third party supporters from across the globe.
Pokemon and Animal Crossing are both 3 times bigger than Metroid as far as sales go, even if we “hardcore” fans love Metroid. And both of those are coming next year. We don’t even know if MP4 will hit by 2020.
I think Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing could carry next year by themselves and are much more important than Metroid and the rest
also Fire Emblem
and probably Luigi’s Mansion since it’s from the Mario franchise and extremely recognisable
Well, I can give some insight on how game development works and what a publisher like Nintendo’s role is and the amount of resources they’re dedicating to game development. For Nintendo, the distinction between a more “in-house” studio and a studio like Bandai is minimal. They’re dedicating the same amount of resources and time, either way. Basically, Nintendo works with the dev studio to set the goals, budget, and time frame for the game. They then agree on “milestones,” an outline of where a game should be in it’s development each month. The studio likely sends a milestone video each month and the publisher assesses whether they’re on track, what needs to change, etc. Then Nintendo sends their payroll for the month. Japanese publishers might work a bit differently than I’m familiar, but that’s how most work. Nintendo tends to be more directly involved, especially if they’re working with their own characters, and they have the ability to bring in help from one project to another. Development time is typically 2-3 years for a new project, often longer but rarely shorter. 6-12 months for a port. Ports have the advantage of needing a small art team, but still require quite a few programmers and a big QA team. They’re not as cheap or easy as people tend to think. Dev teams are much larger than you think, I’m going to link to a Destructoid article talking about that from 5 years ago (and studios just keep getting bigger), but the takeaway is that teams are anywhere from 200-600 strong:
https://www.destructoid.com/aaa-game-development-teams-are-too-damn-big-247366.phtml
So then the question is, how many games are Nintendo overseeing at any given time? We KNOW that they’re currently working on Yoshi, Fire Emblem, Luigi’s Mansion, Pokemon 2019, Metroid, Bayo 3, Animal Crossing, and a Mario Bros port. And then games you might not think about but are also getting all their paychecks from Nintendo include Ultimate Alliance 3 (from Team Ninja, just like their Hyrule and Fire Emblem Warrior games), Daemon x Machina (MARVELOUS), etc. All of those games listed have been in development for at least a year or more, so they’ve had development overlap with Pokemon Lets Go, Smash Bros, Mario Party, Mario Tennis, and Kirby. We know that Monolith is working on something. We know that they’re also working on projects we haven’t seen, but just a very conservative estimate is 20 games (I’ve listed 15 original titles that we know of and I may have missed something). I’d guess it’s closer to 25-30 projects when you consider what we don’t know and any 3DS titles still in the pipeline, and studio’s we know MUST be doing something like Splatoon’s team, not to mention games receiving post release content.
When you actually break it down, no other studio puts out as many major games as Nintendo. But because of historically limited third party support, Nintendo has to create their AAA library almost single-handedly. Their fans also demand a very diverse library of games, with fans waiting for the next Mario Party often being very different from the fans clamoring for F-Zero. Nintendo handles that by keeping their signature art style which uses simple textures and typically being a gen behind graphically. That saves a boatload on development, since art teams have gotten massive and astronomically expensive. It’s also worth considering that Nintendo seems aware that they need to hit big this gen, and their games are reflecting that needed quality.
Still bet Fire Emblem will outsell Prime 4, so I don’t know what you mean by Prime is the “single big release”.
I’m sure that they are holding back a lot of announcements for E3. Beyond possibly showing off the announced Prime 4 and Animal Crossing games, they always make their big reveals then.
Here’s hoping for Pikmin Trilogy, Pikmin 4, Metroid Prime Trilogy HD, Super Mario 3D World Deluxe and much more.
My fears exactly. Let’s hope all the games everyone else mentioned in response to your comment actually come out in 2019 and we don’t get another 2018 where the only real big game releasing next year is Pokemon as it gets the Smash Ultimate treatment and gets a good 90% of the attention.
The Vita is not that popular really. It’s sold ok in Japan relative to the rest of the world but for a portable device 6 million is not great. Its managed a quarter of what the 3ds has sold in the same timeframe. It’s a bit of a myth that it has done well in Japan. Still good that the Switch has passed 6 million but its a minor milestone on the way much bigger.
Not quite the same time period, the 3DS launched in March, 2011 with the Vita dropping in December of 2011, almost a full year later.
Was outselling the Vita hard?? Didnt that thing flounder and flop?
Not in Japan.
The total Vita sales for Japan, although I’m nor positive on how current they are, is only 5.87mil. That’s not a very big number as far as portable consoles go. Which is why I stand by my statement, is outselling the Vita really that hard?
Pingback: Japan: Nintendo Switch Has Now Outsold PlayStation Vita – Top Games
Switch SMASHED Psvita
Pingback: Las ventas de Nintendo Switch ya han superado a las de PlayStation Vita en Japón - Nintenderos.com - Nintendo Switch y 3DS
Pingback: Las ventas de Nintendo Switch ya han superado a las de PlayStation Vita en Japón - Trucos Juegos
The successor to the 3DS outsells the PS Vita, what a surprise! Before you fanboys say it’s not, Pokemon’s move proves otherwise.
About time.
No offense to the Vita which did well in Japan, the real news will be if & when the Switch passes 3DS’s lifetime sales in Japan. According to gamingbolt.com in April 2018, it’s over 24m in Japan. Good luck surpassing that amount over there at the current price tag & with the 3DS still on the market. Releasing a handheld only Switch in Japan for whatever constitutes as 100USD less than the current price in Japan for the Switch that comes with a dock and HDMI cable could help boost sales over there, though. Hence why I don’t expect an upgraded Switch next year but simply a Switch being sold without the dock & HDMI cable that could potentially be a Japan only thing if the demand for it outside of Japan isn’t very strong.
I think you’re right. The only way I’d see the Switch outselling the 3DS in Japan would be phenomenal reviews on Animal Crossing and Pokemon, and maybe securing a console exclusive Monster Hunter again. A Splatoon 3 in it’s lifetime would help too. I think those are the most important titles for shifting consoles in Japan, anyways.
Reblogged this on 👑 GamerRoyalty 👑.