Nintendo Switch Sell-Through Ratio Increased by 35% Year-On-Year; Software Is Doing Even Better

Today Nintendo released the presentation materials for the latest financial conference about the company’s fiscal year results, and they included interesting information from President Shuntaro Furukawa.

Sell-through of Nintendo Switch units has been “solid” and in the latest quarter, it was 35% higher than in the same period last year in North America, Japan, and Europe.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term, Sell-through indicates units sold to customers, which is normally not spelled out in results presentation in favor of sell-in (units sold to retailers). Yesterday we learned the worldwide sell-in for the current fiscal year (16.95 million units), and if you look at the first slide in the gallery at the bottom of the post, you can get an idea of the sell-through, which appears to be just under 15 million units across Japan, North America, and Europe.

Do keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that the Switch sold over 2 million units less than it shipped because the graph doesn’t count other regions.

For the full fiscal year, there was a 23% increase in sell-through in the regions mentioned above, as showcased in the second graph, while the next four show the sales pace compared to previous Nintendo consoles in each region and in all three combined. It appears to be slower than Wii and DS, but a bit faster compared to the 3DS and much, much faster than the Wii U.

That being said, Furukawa-san said that the pace for the three regions combined is “comparable to that of our previous hardware.”

Interestingly, we learn that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the game that drove most hardware sales in the latest quarter. The graph in the gallery shows that it was the first game played by 26% of new users during the first day with the console. That being said, this statistic was generated only among users who were connected online.

The game has been played by people within a wide age range, and particularly by men in their 20s to early 30s closer to release. As time passed that range widened further involving other demographics.

Furukawa-san added that the Switch has not yet peaked, but keeps growing.

To sum up the sales status for Nintendo Switch itself, growth in hardware sales after the turn of the year has not peaked, but rather continues to pick up speed.

First party software sell-through grew even more than hardware’s, and the latest quarter showcased 50% increase year-on-year. The increase for the full fiscal year is even better, 70%.

Digital sales are expanding as well, and they have nearly doubled over the past fiscal year, passing 100 billion yen for the first time ever.

We also learn that annual yearly sales per Nintendo Switch unit have grown to 55,000 yen (which translates roughly to $492, including the price of hardware, accessories, software, and online service). By comparison, the Wii was at 42,000 yen per console by the end of its third fiscal year.

Monthly active users in the latest quarter were also twice as many compared to the same period last year.

Nintendo expects growth to continue during the current fiscal year (ending in March 2020), and hardware adoption to expand faster compared to the past fiscal year (which ended in March 2019). The company believes that more and more people worldwide will realize that the Switch is something relevant to them.

Interestingly, we also hear that Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield are being developed to “emphasize the fun of playing Nintendo Switch in handheld mode.” The manufacturer wants them to be enjoyable both for veteran players and for users that have encountered the franchise for the first time with Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!.

As many third-parties continue to develop games for Nintendo Switch, the number of development kits shipped to publishers continues to “greatly exceed” the number of kits distributed for any other Nintendo console, ever.

Furukawa-san also provided an update for subscribers of the Nintendo Switch Online service, which are over 9.8 million, excluding free trials.

Lastly, there won’t be a formal press conference at E3 this year, which isn’t surprising. Nintendo will keep doing what they have done in the past few years, with a video presentation.