Nintendo may very well on its way to accomplishing its goal of selling 2 million switch consoles by the end of this month. Analyst firm Super Data, as reported by GamesInduistry.biz, has revealed that they expect that Ninty has sold approximately 1,500,000 consoles since the Switch’s launch on March 3rd.
According to launch week numbers worldwide distribution of Nintendo Switch consoles look a little something like this:
- North America – 500,000
- Japan – 360,000
- France – 110,000
- UK – 85,000
These numbers of course paint an incomplete picture as they only include four regions where the Switch is available and are at least a week out of date now. The actual sales numbers may be closer to Nintendo’s initial goal. For comparison’s sake the Wii sold over 600,000 units in North America in its first week and over 400,000 consoles in Japan when it launched back in 2006. When the Wii U launched in 2012 it didn’t quite match the massive success of the Wii’s numbers but the initial worldwide allotments did sell out. In terms of the three territories Wii U sold 400,000 in North America, 600,000 in Japan and only 40,000 in the United Kingdom during its first week of availability.
Certainly it is easy to call Switch’s early success the biggest thing to happen to Nintendo since the Wii’s heyday, but I wouldn’t call the current general availability of Switch a shortage, as others have done. Nintendo was very clear during the launch line-up reveal in January their target was to ship 2 million units by the end of March with more following throughout the spring.
Locally, here in Calgary AB there hasn’t been a Switch to be found since launch week. After several days of scouting several Best Buys, EB Games (in America they’re GameStop) and other smaller stores it is clear that once the initial launch day stock was depleted Nintendo has only sent a handful of units (in some cases literally less than 5) to local retailers.
So if you’re looking for a Nintendo Switch where do you go? Here are some examples of regional pricing for the Switch on local classifieds in major Canadian cities:
- Calgary AB – Hovering around $480 CDN on Kijiji
- Vancouver BC is quite a bit higher sitting around $560 CDN but some as high as $900!
- Toronto ON – $525 CDN – to as high as $700
The best advice is probably to hold out a couple of weeks until Nintendo begins to ship more units to stores. Consoles are available on third party sellers but with mark-ups as high as 25% – 50% and the platform’s top selling title, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild, available on the Wii U it is certainly easier for avid Nintendo fans like myself to hang on just a little bit longer.
I remember when the Wii was first released I couldn’t find one for seven months post-release and when I did find one I immediately traded in my PSP + its entire library just to play Trauma Centre Wii and Metroid Prime 3 – Wiigrets there. Did you manage to snag a launch Switch? What are your impressions of it? Let me know in the comments section.