Analyst Predicts Nintendo Switch Will Sell Over 130 Million units By 2022

On 3 March 2017 Nintendo released its seventh major video game console Nintendo Switch and since then the hybrid console is selling like crazy and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon till now the console has sold over 4.7 million units worldwide.

Recently the NPD group released a new report which revealed that the Switch has managed to outsell PS4 and Xbox in both US and Japan once again. this is the fourth time the console has outperformed the two giants console in sales since its release.

Nintendo is currently trying to solve its shortage of components problem but is also looking to produce 18 million units until the end of the year 2017 to avoid the shortage of Switch which has been the biggest problem for the company till now.

Looking at sales of record of the previous handheld console like Wii which sold 101 million units, 3DS sold 65 million units and Wii U which performed very poorly and only sold 13 million units. it is fair to say that Switch may break 50 million units in few years but according to an analyst firm in the next five-year Switch would have sold 130 million units.

The report comes from a Swiss financial service named Credit Suisse whose analyst Keiichi Yoneshima predicts that the console would break 130 million unit mark by 2022. initially, they predicted that switch would sale 70 million unit by 2022 but as the sales are getting better they doubled their estimates.

When Barrons asked for the reasoning behind their prediction Yoneshima said that the Switch is a unique platform and they initially estimated its sales as consoles but as most of the consumer use it as a handheld they updated their prediction and hence a new report.

“As Nintendo’s Switch is a unique game platform for use as either a console or handheld, there was initially some uncertainty over whether its sales cycle would more closely resemble that of a console or handheld. Although the Switch is currently categorised as more of a console, we expect it to sell like a handheld. Many users are in fact using the Switch as a portable according to a Famitsu survey of users.”

“We previously projected a sales peak at about three years after launch (i.e., in FY3/19) on the assumption of a console-like sales cycle. Now that the Switch looks more likely to sell like a handheld, we update our sales forecast to reflect a longer sales cycle.”

“We now expect the Switch to achieve peak sales about five years after launch (i.e., around FY3/20–21) like a typical handheld game device. We also raise our peak-year sales forecast from 25mn to 31mn units.”

Currently, the record of the highest number of sales is held by PS2 at 157 million units followed by Nintendo DS with 154 million units and the Game Boy with over 118 million units. if Nintendo Switch is able to reach the 130 million mark it would make it the 3rd best-selling console ever.

Just so you know it took more than a decade for PS2 to became top selling consoles. so what do you thing will Nintendo Switch ever reach such a big feat in just five years.