The Nintendo Switch is reaching its 7th year in modern gaming. Nintendo aims to continue supporting its system in the future.
Their main vision is to provide unique creative methods for everyone to play, regardless of background and age. They’re aiming for the entire world to have engaging, memorable fun. Instead of maintaining the status quo, the company will invest in making unique entertainment that looks and feels fun.
1st Party Series on Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch was designed to accomplish what the Wii U couldn’t, to build the series’ awareness. Many 1st party franchises exceeded expectations when entering the Nintendo Switch library. Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Smash Bros, and 3D Super Mario accumulated over 25 million units.
The console gained various long-supported franchises, like Luigi Mansion, Fire Emblem, and Metroid. The newest entries expanded the gameplay formula for innovation while welcoming newcomers, such as Smash Bros Ultimate’s evolved fighting system and Fire Emblem Three Houses simplified SRPG mechanics. In 2023, three Nintendo titles gained an astounding boost in sales and positivity for their respective series.
Super Mario Wonder
Super Mario Bros Wonder was released on October 20th with massive expectations. Before its release, Nintendo launched animated video shorts to raise the hype and showcase the expressional characters, including Bowser. Two weeks after release, the game sold over 4.3 million units globally, becoming the fastest-selling Mario game. Super Mario Bros Wonder earned the achievement of the most successful Super Mario Bros entry.
New Super Mario Bros U was the last 2D Mario platformer released in late 2012. It sold over 200K units in two months after release. It’s been over a decade since a new 2D Mario game. As of September 30, it sold 5.82 million units, whereas its deluxe edition sold over 16 million units.
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom had overwhelmingly positive reviews and sales during its launch on May 12, 2023. Three days later, it reached up to 10 million units sold. As of September 30, its sales rose to nearly 20 million units. Compared to Breath of the Wild, it took less than half a year for TOTK to sell about two-thirds of its predecessor’s lifetime sales. The new Zelda formula on Nintendo’s current console has significantly helped its sales.
On the Wii U, the last traditional Zelda game was Wind Waker HD. It was a unique game featuring a young Link venturing through the grand seas. The remastered game deserved its chance on the modern console back then, though the Wii U held back its sales. As of September 2022, it only sold over 2.30 million units.
The last traditional Zelda game released on Switch was Skyward Sword HD. This game is what canonically starts the Zelda series. It was released with relatable connections to TOTK, such as sky islands and time travel. In December 2022, it sold just under 4 million.
It didn’t sell better than BOTW, though it sold well compared to other predecessors, especially on Wii U. It was the last Zelda game for any fan to enjoy the old 3D Zelda adventure before its upcoming successor came to the market.
Origin of Pikmin releases
The Pikmin series has always been a niche franchise. Despite its low sales on previous consoles (Gamecube, 3DS, Wii, Wii U), Nintendo still cherished the series. Positive sales of the Switch influenced Nintendo to take the chance for more Pikmin support.
The first Pikmin to reach the Nintendo Switch was Pikmin 3. Nintendo announced a deluxe edition at the end of August 2020. This Wii U port had new side missions, Story mode Coop, and all the DLC stages. On October 30, 2020, Pikmin 3 Deluxe gained positive reception overall. As of December 2022, it was recorded to reach 2.4 million sales.
In early October 2020, Nintendo released three short Pikmin films: Treasure in the Bottle, Night Juicer, and Occupational Hazards. These movies introduced various fans to how Pikmin explores and interacts with the Earth. The three short videos gained over 440 million views globally.
On October 26, 2021, Pikmin Bloom was released on mobile. Like Pokemon Go, it encouraged players to explore outside their homes to see curious Pikmin. Player reception was positive, gaining over 2 million downloads within its first two weeks of release.
How Pikmin 4 released
The series was supported conveniently with its deluxe entry, mobile game, and short films. Nintendo was raising the audience’s awareness and hype to welcome the series’ newest entry on September 13, 2022. The announcement only showed an outside scenery and the Pikmin 4 title.
During a Nintendo Direct on June 21, 2023, Nintendo revealed gameplay for Pikmin 4. Shortly after, Pikmin 1 + 2 were shadow-dropped digitally on the same day as HD ports. Their physical editions were released later on September 22, 2023.
The growing support was for the newest entry to succeed in its series. On October 31, Pikmin 4 sold over 2.5 million units, becoming its series’ most prominent global launch. It wouldn’t have accomplished its popular spotlight without the influence of its predecessors.
These influences greatly impacted Pikmin’s popularity and helped the new entry gain great sales. Overall, the entire Pikmin series has accumulated over 10 million units in total. The Nintendo Switch officially became the home for the whole Pikmin franchise.
Nintendo’s Ideal Relationship with Audience
Nintendo’s most valuable possession is their first party Intellectual Property. They wish to expand their IPs further through different avenues, such as merchandise, theme parks, mobile games, and social media. These advertising methods incorporate detailed designs to increase consumer immersion. They’re even working on a museum in Uji City, Kyoto to showcase the company’s history and development. If the audience gains enough engagement, the influence could sway them over to Nintendo’s gaming platform to interact with their beloved franchises.
Nintendo supported a few of their series within the mobile market. Mario Kart Tour, Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, and Pikmin Bloom have achieved astronomical success. This year, their combined efforts increased accumulated downloads to over 860 million.
Super Nintendo World is a special theme park for anyone to engage in the creative realm of Nintendo IP. They are located in Universal Studios Hollywood in California, US, and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. More Super Nintendo Worlds are planned in Orlando, Florida in the US and Singapore in Asia.
After 2020, Nintendo became more aware of the influential power of social media. They have been using Twitter and YouTube to release animated shorts and trailer gameplay to advertise their IP series. Currently, the Super Mario Bros, Kirby, and Pikmin series have unique videos.
Nintendo likes making their merchandise detailed and precise to raise audience engagement with the IP series. Nintendo is expanding its work with varied partner companies in and outside Japan. An upcoming project is Lego Animal Crossing, featuring Tom Nook, Isabelle, Marshal, Kapp’n, Julian, Bunnie, Fauna, and Rosie. There will be different sets: Bunnie’s Outdoor Activities, Kapp’n’s Island Boat Tour, Nook’s Cranny & Rosie’s House, Isabelle’s House Visit, and Julian’s B-day Party. These efforts will increase global awareness of their established IPs, even for people unfamiliar with video games.
Overall Future for Nintendo Switch
Nintendo emphasizes how they will continue managing their relationship with the audience. They want to influence various people to join their creative gaming worlds, whether they be gamers or not.
Nintendo sees no reason to entirely abandon its current gaming platform. They don’t want to dramatically change their online gaming service, letting gamer accounts smoothly transition over to any new inventions. Whatever new plan they have for their gaming audience is entirely up to the company. Hopefully, their upcoming project will significantly benefit the audience and colorful IPs in the future.
