Nintendo has a surefire hit on their hands right now. The Switch has been kicking butt since it launched, and results from Black Friday and Cyber Monday show the system topping the charts. This continues Nintendo's return to the forefront of the game industry, and analysts are talking about how big of a difference Nintendo is making.
IDC research director Lewis Ward
"My preliminary total home console hardware shipment total in North America (US + Canada) in 2017 is coming in close to 15 million bundles, up nearly 30% compared to 2016's total of about 11.6 million bundles shipped. Nearly all of this increase is due to Switch: Nintendo shipped less than 400,000 Wii U bundles last year in North America. This year alone, Switch will ship over 5.2 million in the region. That's an insane turnaround.
What I can say is that we shouldn't lose the forest for the trees: The biggest story in the console space in 2017 is that Nintendo's back with a vengeance. My research does imply that PS4 will nevertheless outsell Xbox One overall in North America in 4Q17 and for 2017 as a whole. I'm also expecting 4Q17 hardware bundle shipments to be up about 25% compared to 4Q16 in North America, and as I said, the big spike here is due to Nintendo's rebound."
DFC Intelligence's David Cole
"I think overall there is an issue of limited demand for a high-end game system. The Xbox One X is now selling to the people who have a lot of money and want the latest and greatest but that audience will dry out quickly. The PS4 overall is doing well but the PS4 Pro has underperformed. So I think Black Friday shows that the audience for fancy graphics is limited and if you offer something new and unique like the Switch does, consumers will go for it."
from GoNintendo
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