Nintendo sold nearly a million Switches in 2022, bringing the total sold since its launch to 7 million. It remains the most popular console in France.
Record broken, by far. With 7.09 million copies sold in France since its release in 2017, the Nintendo Switch surpasses the performance of the Nintendo Wii, which for ten years held the title of the best-selling console in our country (portable consoles excluded). With its motion-recognition controllers and accessible games, the Wii was a resounding success and introduced video games to a wide audience. It had passed in France to 6.3 million copies. Sony’s hugely popular PlayStation 4 has an installed base of 6 million machines.
The sales curve of the Switch passed that of the Wii during the year 2022, in France as in the rest of the world. And although the console is approaching its sixth year on the market, its appeal remains intact. “We sold 987,000 Switches in 2022, which is the best performance on the market. One in two consoles sold in France last year was a Switch“, says Philippe Lavoué, general manager of Nintendo France.
The rest of the market is handicapped by recurring shortages of Sony’s PlayStation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series, the volumes of which are being sold in dribs and drabs below demand from French consumers. Sony promises a significant improvement in this situation in 2023, which should redistribute the cards.
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Success for Nintendo Switch Sports
Nearly a quarter of French households are now equipped with one or more Switches. The profile of new buyers is made up half of families with children, and half of young adults. “We have the desire to constantly conquer a new audience, beyond our fans», continues Philippe Lavoué.
Nintendo notably took advantage of World Cup matches, major audience crossroads, to broadcast TV commercials for its Pokémon Purple/Scarlet games and especially Nintendo Switch Sports. The spot features the couple formed by video game influencer Michou and dancer Elsa Bois, well known to teenagers.
This successor to the great success Wii Sports, where you can face your loved ones in sports mini-games using the movement recognition of the console’s controllers, has also benefited from several hundred commercial events across France, in hypermarkets and large cultural areas. “It is important, post-Covid, to go back to basics and put our products in the hands of consumers. And these demonstrations are made by enthusiasts“, indicates the director of Nintendo France.
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Zelda and the Ambushed Mario Movie
The efforts put into Nintendo Switch Sports have paid off, with 425,000 physical versions sold – Nintendo does not communicate on sales in digital format. This is the fourth best commercial performance for Nintendo in 2022, behind Pokémon Purple/Scarlet (701,000 sales), Pokémon Arceus (575,000) and the timeless Mario Kart 8, released in 2017 (445,000). “More than half of Switch owners have purchased Mario Kart 8“, emphasizes Philippe Lavoué. These titles will appear at the top of the ranking of the best-selling video games of 2022, which will be unveiled around March by the Syndicate of Video Game Publishers (SELL).
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Between the highly anticipated game Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, scheduled for May 15, and the April release of the 3D animated film Super Mario: The Movie, the year 2023 looks promising for the Japanese company. “We are planning highlights around the release of Super Mario: The Movie, but everything is still confidential», indicates Philippe Lavoué. A box office success should automatically translate into more sales for the Switch and games featuring the famous Italian plumber.
Sales of Nintendo games in France in 2022 (digital sales excluded)
Pokémon Purple and Scarlet: 701,000 sales
Pokémon Arceus: 575,000 sales
Mario Kart 8: 445,000 sales
Nintendo Switch Sports: 425,000 sales
Mario Strikers: 264,000 sales
Splatoon 3: 254,000 sales
Animal Crossing New Horizons: 253,000 sales
Kirby and the Forgotten World: 214,000 sales