Nintendo Switch Lite: nearly 180 000 units sold during launch week in Japan
Last week, the Nintendo Switch Lite was released worldwide, including in Japan where it’s off to a strong start. According to the usual early sale report from Famitsu, the console sold no less than 177 936 units during its first 3 days on the market. That alone makes it one of the best week ever for the Nintendo Switch, excluding the launch week in March 2017 and the holiday seasons (December).
This is a great result for the Nintendo Switch Lite, which shows there is strong demand for a portable-only model. Of course, the fact that it costs nearly $100 less than the original model is another major reason it resonated well with consumers.
And the good news for Nintendo is that the success of the Nintendo Switch Lite doesn’t mean nobody is interested in the OG model anymore, quite the opposite! The original one sold no less than 62 000 units last week, which is 11 000 units more than during the previous week.
This would imply that the two models are going to co-exist, though it’s too early to say which one will be the most popular in the long run, and how big the gap between the two is going to be. Sales during the next few months, and especially during the holiday season in December, will be quite telling when it comes to the sales potential of each model. The Nintendo Switch Lite should have the advantage, due to that period favouring family/kids-focused devices and games.
Combined, the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite sold about 240 000 units last week in Japan, which is a tremendous result for September (definitely not the best period for video games sales in Japan.
Since launch, the console has now sold about 9 211 681 units, and there’s little doubt it will reach 10 million units before the holiday season has even started (thanks to Pokémon Sword and Shield in November). Given the usual sales trends, the question is now: “How close to the 12 million units milestone the console will be by the end of the year?”.
As usual, the regular weekly report from Famitsu will be available later today.
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Source: Famitsu
