GameStop: Switch could eclipse the Wii

The senior director of merchandising at retailer GameSpot has predicted an extremely bright future for Nintendo Switch.

The console remains hard to find on Hight Streets on both sides of the Atlantic, and now Eric Bright has told GameRant that he thinks it could outpace Nintendo’s most successful ever home console.

The Nintendo Switch is off to a start right now that it could possibly eclipse the Wii,” he said. Initial sales on this have been phenomenal. I can’t give straight numbers, but I can say we’re seeing one of the highest attach rates of software and accessories to a device that we’ve seen in a long time.”

We’re seeing tremendous success with the power chargers for the Nintendo Switch, as well as people coming in and picking up extra Joy-Con so people can turn it into a four-player device. We will soon be going online with all-new bundles. Because of the popularity of Zelda, which is one of my top picks, we’re putting together a Zelda bundle of hardware and accessories for customers to pick up online.”

The Wii, of course, was a colossal success for Nintendo, selling over 100m units and standing behind only the PS2 and original PlayStation in terms of total home console global sales. By contrast, Nintendo’s last console, the Wii U, has failed to reach 14m units sold.

Last week it was reported that production targets for the Switch have supposedly been doubled thanks to strong demand for the machine. It is claimed that Nintendo has doubled the number of Switch consoles it intends to manufacture in 2017 from 8m to 16m. This is due to higher than expected demand. Nintendo now reckons it can sell 10m units in its next financial year starting April.

Were Nintendo to sell through all of this stock, that would mean Switch would in its first year surpass Wii U’s lifetime total sales.

The machine apparently remains relatively hard to source in the US, while in the UK it seems as if stocks are certainly running low. Amazon is taking orders for a stock arrival at the end of the month, while the likes of Argos, GAME, ShopTo, SimplyGames and GameSeek do not currently have stock.

Analyst SuperData said last week that it believes Nintendo has to date sold 1.5 Switch consoles worldwide.