Nintendo Co Ltd shipped 1 million Switch consoles in China since it launched the video game device at the end of 2019, according to Reuters. The figure surpasses the combined sales of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox over the same period.
- Nintendo’s Switch consoles sales were boosted by the August release of the popular home exercise game “Rising Fit Adventure” in China.
- Globally, Nintendo forecasts it will sell 24 million Switch units for the year ending March 2021.
- Console games are considered a niche market in China, the world’s biggest video games market, where most of the focus is on mobile games.
- China banned console games until 2014, with consumers only able to access them via the grey market.
- Switch consoles sold in China are locked, and buyers can only play games approved by regulators.
- China is important to Nintendo since it does not have a console culture in the same way that the U.S. or Japan does, representing a growth opportunity.
- China’s console market is expected to hit a revenue of $2.15 billion in 2024, double that of 2019, due to the success of Switch and the next-generation console launches.
Nintendo stock is currently gaining. 7974: TYO is up 0.96%
