GameStop Says Switch Software in 2018 is “also very, very strong”
The success of the Nintendo Switch is no secret. In its first 12 months on the market, Nintendo’s hybrid console became the fastest-selling console ever in the US, outsold worldwide sales of the Wii U, and took home plenty of Game of the Year awards for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Not only that, but the Switch played a big part in boosting hardware sales in 2017, moreso than the PS4 and Xbox One. In fact, hardware sales rose 28.3 percent last year and the Switch is said to be the sole reason for that impressive number. That’s a tough act to follow, but for GameStop, they’re expecting 2018 to be just as big for the Switch, and just as lucrative for themselves.
The topic of the Nintendo Switch came up during a recent GameStop financial call. An investor asked GameStop CEO Michael Mauler if the console’s excellent attach rate will continue in 2018 as more and more consoles fly off the shelves. Mauler replied:
“Yeah, I think that’s a fair question with Nintendo. I mean we know kind of what happened with Wii U. I’d say this is definitely a whole different platform than we saw in the past. We have visibility to the software. So last year was a tremendous year for the software, as well as hardware between Zelda and Mario Odyssey and all the game that they had really drove a lot of hardware sales, as well as software.
I think this year when we look at the slate of titles, many of which haven’t been announced yet, this year looks also very, very strong. So I think, at least, for 2018, we’ll continue to see the strong software slate drive additional installed base on the hardware and increase attach rate. We don’t have really visibility for 2019 yet, but for 2018 it should play out that way.”
It’s interesting that Mauler mentions that the Switch software lineup is also strong this year and that there are games yet to be announced. While that isn’t completely surprising, it does allude that Mauler might know a thing or two about upcoming games in the Switch pipeline.
Can we expect a few surprises from Nintendo at E3 this year? Let’s discuss in the comments below.