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Nintendo Switch Aligned Year Three Report
Updated: 01/02/2023
[0.]
Introduction To Another Diabolic Year...That Plateaued A Tiny Little
Bit
Okay,
so back in the second aligned year, I really wrote an over the top
post laying shots at Nintendo for crunching their lot checkers and
reviewers alike with their troll score settling tactics and antics,
setting records that they really had no business breaking. You would
have thought that Nintendo would have realized that the trolls don't
care about them and slow down. Then you realize that this is
Nintendo, the only difference between Yamaguchi and the current
regime is that they have learned to take criticism well and not
parrot Yamaguchi's infamous "We do whatever we want, we will not
bend to outside pressure." (since their actions speak a lot
louder than their words anyway.). The troll score settling has gotten
even worse, but it seems that Nintendo does have it's limits on how
many games can be released in one year. It's a very soft limit that I
noticed with the North American releases in December 2019 when the
Switch had less than 100 games a month for the first time in over a
year, at 96 games. So, thanks to that, the numbers still increased by
a lot, but the margin of that increase was much lower than aligned
year 2's margin of increase compare to the first year.
Still,
make no mistake; Switch is setting records. They have gone from NX
with few games announced, little developer support and little hope;
to one of the best systems ever with the largest library in Nintendo
history, publisher support that is close to four digit numbers and
close to 2000 developers on the back end. Backwards compatibility
isn't going to be an issue for Switch anymore as I reveal in this
report. Sadly, I cannot give out the totals for Nintendo Switch's
Overall Game List and Publisher/Developers game lists anymore since I
have not been working on much for the later and the former is well
over the 500 KB limit on 50Webs. Fair to say; it's well over 4200
games and well over 3000 publishers and developers and leave it at
that.
[1.] Nintendo Switch North American Game Release List Stats
http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/NintendoPlatform.txt
http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/SwitchAA.txt
I
have a more detailed comparison of all platforms from Nintendo in the
links I have provided. This is the meat of the report and there is a
lot to cover here. Unless otherwise stated, these figures apply to
the North American region:
[a.]
Total Number Of Games
- Overall,
the Nintendo Switch reached 3307 games as of March 2nd, 2020, 1096
days total.
- On average 1102 games were released per year, up
from 896 games per year.
- 3.02 games per day were released, 21.2
games per week, 91.9 games per month.
- Switch finally surpassed
Nintendo DS, and has the widest margin of any platform at 1259 games
and counting. The margin is already bigger than the LTD numbers of
VB, N64, Gameboy Color combined (and one game short of Gameboy
combined); but is higher than mentioned plus Gamecube, NES, SNES,
GBA, and Wii U; also within 40 games away from surpassing the LTD
numbers of 3DS, which is still active.
- By console pairing era;
Switch has surpassed everyone, but the DS/Wii era.
*Storylines
For Aligned Year 4:
- The DS/Wii era
has 3837 games, the gap is 531 games needed to surpass it. I suspect
that by Fall 2020; Switch will surpass this. (July
2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Fall 2020?!
Especially when you wrote that the 3DS triple figure would be
surpassed by the end of July?! By the way, DS/Wii was surpassed as I
am writing this.)
- This year will be
the year Backwards Compatibility will mean nothing for 3DS, as 3DS
with BC games taken into account is 3345 games. Switch is only 39
games away from surpassing it and the Switch has more than enough to
achieve this before the end of March 2020. (Already
surpassed.)
- 3DS's triple figure is
3891, the gap is 585 games to surpass it. Maybe the end of July.
(Already surpassed as of July 17th,
2020.)
- Wii's double figure is 3578
games, Switch needs 272 games to surpass it. Maybe in June. (Already
surpassed)
- DS's double figure is
4096 games, Switch needs 789 games to surpass it. Probably late fall
2020. (August 2020 Gregory Weagle Says: Late
fall 2020?!; It's happening as of August 29th, 2020; that's mid
summer! Stop predicting stuff! Didn't you promise to stop doing that
last year?!)
- The entire Yamaguchi
era combined (NES-GBA inclusive) is 4151 games, Switch needs 845
games to surpass it. Possible Align Year 4 milestone. (If
you just said that instead of actual dates, you wouldn't look like a
fool. As of September 2nd, they are just 50 or so games away, maybe
mid to late September.)
- Steam from
2004-2014 inclusive has 4006 games, Switch needs 703 games to surpass
it. Probably late fall 2020. (Already
happened as of August 8th, 2020!)
Side
Note: I was going to include numbers for
Japan and other regions; but Perfectly-Nintendo hasn't updated their
numbers yet.
[b.]
Number of Publishers and Developers Overall
-
997 publishers have published at least one game on Nintendo Switch,
an average of 332 new publishers per year.
- That is doubled the
amount of publishers in the entire Yamaguchi era (428 publishers
combined) and surpass the entire Iwata era sans Switch (863
publishers combined).
- The average number of games per publisher
is 3.32; the lowest in Nintendo history. The highest is GBA with
14.39 games per publisher. This shows how the policy changes of
sub-publishing as the support is less "big support from a small
circle of publishers" and now is more of a small support from a
huge selection of publishers.
- 1870 developers have developed at
least one game on Nintendo Switch, an average of 623 new developers
per year.
- Switch has surpassed the Yamaguchi era in total number
of developers combined (1245 developers combined).
- The average
number of games per developer is 1.77; technically the second lowest
in Nintendo history. However, since Virtual Boy is the lowest and has
only 14 games; Switch might as well be the lowest. This stems from a
huge selection of developers from the Indies scene. Policy changes
from late stages of Wii U can explain away these numbers. Despite
Switch being much more successful and many more developers in the
marketplace: In the former case, Wii and DS sold 250 million units
plus and both had under 200 publishers and 600 developers each. In
the later case, 3DS and Wiiu had 200-300 publishers and under 500
publishers each. Switch became a perfect mix of lots of new
publishers and developers on the scene, a successful system that was
build for those developers and most importantly, policies that were
more friendly to developers. You can argue if they were too friendly
to them, though considering the record setting pace.
- The
developer/publisher ratio is 1.88; second lowest to Wiiu's 1.45.
*Storylines
for Aligned Year 4:
- The most obvious
one is 1000 publishers, which is happening for sure as early as next
week. (Currently over 1100 publishers.)
-
Outside of Switch, the total combined publishers for all Nintendo
platforms is 1291. Since 332 new publishers are released every year
now, could it be possible for Aligned Year 4 to surpass them all? If
not, Aligned Year 5 is not out of the question either.
- The
second most obvious one is 2000 developers, which only 130 developers
are needed. I suspect this will happen before Fall 2020. (This
happened long before July. Man, maybe writing it out of order was a
bad idea.)
- The number of developers
combined in the Iwata-era sans Switch is 1905, only needing 26 to
surpass it. Probably done by the end of this month. (Already
surpassed it.)
[c.]
Publisher & Developer Breakdown
Side
Note: In the case of developers, it can be
quite messy since a lot of game nowadays use a ad-hoc approach in
that multiple developers get into the action. The developer numbers
are based on the planning team and don't include the out-sourced
developers (like Bandai-Namco Singapore for instance or porting teams
like Blind Squirrel and QLOC. Those are included in the Nintendo
Switch Game List though). If a game is published by a third party;
but sub-published by Nintendo outside Japan, the 3rd party publisher
is counted and Nintendo is considered a distributor.
-
Hamster is the #1 publisher for Switch at 194 games; the highest
total for a third party publisher among Nintendo platforms and is
third behind Wii U Nintendo (195) and 3DS Nintendo (249).
-
Nintendo has 97 games in 2nd place, meaning the gap is a -97; the
biggest gap in Nintendo platform history where Nintendo is not in
first place (GBA has the second largest at -67; although Nintendo was
in 3rd place.)
- Rounding out the Top 5 are Ratalaika Games with
64, Forever Entertainment at 53 and a tie with Playdius/Dear
Villagers and Ultimate Games at 44.
- Rounding out the Top 10
after that are QubicGames with 42, Digerati with 40, Sega with 37 and
Sometimes You with 35.
- Top Ten Publishing Minimum is at 35,
which is in fourth place.
- SNK Corporation is the #1 developer
for Switch at 94 games; the highest total for a developer 1st or 3rd
party ever.
- Nintendo is in 2nd place with 62 games and is
currently the 6th highest total for a developer 1st or 3rd party
ever. This means a gap of -32 games.
- Rounding out the Top 5 are
G-Mode with 28 games, and Baltoro Games, Konami and Kariosoft with 21
games.
- Rounding out the Top 10 after that are Capcom/Ubi Soft
tied with 19 games and M2/Sabec with 17 games.
- Top Ten
Developing Minimum is at 17; which is tied for fourth place.
-
Correction: SNES and
GBC are the ones where Nintendo is nowhere near the Top
Ten.
*Storylines
for Aligned Year 4
- Hamster is six
games away from being the first third party publisher to reach 200
games on a single Nintendo platform. This will happen in mid-April
considering how they publish titles. This also means Hamster will be
the second largest publisher for a single platform in Nintendo
history, that will happen in mid-March. (Already
surpassed.)
- Nintendo will reach over
100 games published for the fifth time (all during the Iwata era)
during Aligned Year 3; when is a bigger question. I don't think
Switch Nintendo will reach the overall Top 10 in publishers in
aligned year 4. (100 game milestone has
been surpassed.)
- SNK Corporation has
a real chance of being the first developer to reach 100 games or more
on a Nintendo platform, just like Hamster reaching 250 games
published on a single platform. Something even Nintendo couldn't pull
it off. While Hamster is almost assured now, SNK Corporation is much
more questionable. They will be awfully close, but will likely fall
short. (It's going to happen, they only
need one game to reach the milestone.)
-
Look out for Ultimate Games, they might make the Top 10 in overall
platform publishing if they keep up the publishing duties on various
titles. Ditto for Ratalaika Games and maybe even Forever
Entertainment.
- I think getting 10 publishers to at least 40
titles will be the next milestone step as the Top 10 Publishing
Minimum is only five games short. Sega already has 3 M2 games
remaining (and that will help the Top 10 Developer Minimum, depending
on what Sabec does, maybe even Capcom and Ubi Soft) and at least a
few others. Sometimes You needs five more games and looks doable.
(Top 10 Publisher Minimum is currently
40.)
- As mentioned; even two M2 games
and two Sabec games will be enough to overtake third place outright
with 19 games and put them in position to hopefully surpass DS and
Wii with 25 in later years. We'll see. (Done.
Sabec already has over 25 games and M2 is flirting with that
number.)
[d.]
By Genre
http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/Top30genre1.txt
Side
Note: Now here's where things get really
messy. In order to keep these stats from getting out of control, I
base the games on the majority genre that each game has since many
games on Switch have more than one genre. Also; I try to keep the
genres down to ten genres (Sports and Other are the exception as they
can be unlimited in their respective sub-genres). Strategy, Tower
Defense and Action RPG's fit in the RPG category. Action/Adventure
games are usually Adventure unless there is ample evidence that
Action overwhelms Adventure. Beat'em Ups are Action games. I ignore
Arcade as a genre completely since it's a platform and Arcade games
have many genres. Some action games I have noticed are not action
games, but clearly shooters. Twin Stick shooters are shooters.
Hunting games are considered shooters for the purpose of compiling.
Fishing simulations are considered Sports games, unless the majority
genre is another genre. This applies to Golf Story in that sense,
that it's RPG rather than Sports/Golf. Mini-Games are Other/Party,
Dancing/Rhythm games are Other/Music.
-
Adventure has 671 games or 20.3% of the Switch lineup. This is the
first time Adventure has ever been #1 on a single platform and is
currently the leader among all genres on all Nintendo platforms. In
fact, there are now more Adventure games on Switch in THREE YEARS
than the NES had games in it's entire lifetime, period.
*Storyline:
There is little for Adventure to prove, other then to
maintain the #1 spot over Action, which the Action genre is usually
#1 on six of Nintendo's platforms. They do need 28 games to double
the amount of adventure games compared to Nintendo DS, and will
likely reach over 700 games for sure. (Already
surpassed and surpassed SNES total LTD numbers.)
Considering the pace, 900 games is not out of the question for
Aligned Year 4. Heck, by the end of Aligned Year 5, 1000 games
doesn't sound like a pipe dream anymore. Imagine almost GBA LTD
numbers on all genres being less than Adventure games alone on the
Switch.
- Action has 652 games or 19.7% of the Switch lineup.
Action is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre, but is
#2 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. Action has already
doubled the amount on GBA (GBA Action is #7 overall, the only
Yamaguchi era system to reach the Top 10, and one of the few that is
in the Top 30.). There are more Action games on Switch in THREE YEARS
than the Gamecube had games in it's entire lifetime,
period
.
*Storyline:
Basically the same as Adventure. They need 19 games to
surpass NES LTD games period numbers and will likely surpass SNES's
LTD numbers by the end of Aligned Year 4 like Adventure does.
(Already surpassed both and we're not
halfway through align year 4 yet.)
-
RPG has 442 games or 13.4% of the Switch lineup. RPGs is #1 among all
Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #3 in overall genres
among all Nintendo platforms. RPG has already doubled the amount on
DS (DS RPG is #21 overall) and has more RPG games on Switch in THREE
YEARS than the N64 had games in it's entire lifetime, period.
*Storyline: RPG
getting to 500 game on one system would be the biggest tribute to the
genre in the history of Nintendo platforms. After that, there's
nothing to prove considering their overall ranking on Switch and on
Nintendo platforms in general. Also, to have THREE genres over 500
games really paints the picture of how Nintendo policies have
changed. (They have surpassed Gameboy Color
and are within striking distance of Gamecube's total games
overall.)
- Puzzle has 309 games
or 9.3% of the Switch lineup. Puzzle is #1 among all Nintendo
platforms in the same genre; but is #8 in overall genres among all
Nintendo platforms. There are more Puzzles games on Switch in THREE
YEARS than the N64 had games in it's entire lifetime,
period.
*Storyline:
Puzzle is already in the Top Ten, but the magical number for the next
aligned year will be in get 361 or more; because that will put Puzzle
in the Top 5 overall and be the fourth straight Switch genre in terms
of ranking. At the current pace, being the fourth genre to reach 400
games isn't a pipe dream either. (Puzzle
has become the fourth genre to reach over 400 and is #6 overall.)
-
Shooter has 305 games or 9.2% of the Switch lineup. Shooter is #1
among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #9 in overall
genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more Shooter games on
Switch in THREE YEARS than the N64 had games in it's entire lifetime,
period.
*Storyline: Pretty
much the same as Puzzle, although doubling the number of Wii shooters
would be a nice side prize to the deal. While not as profound of a
deal as RPGs, the twin stick shooting genre has virtually made
Shooters one of the most popular genres on the Switch. The added
arcade nature of the Switch helps it a lot as well. (Shooter
has become the fifth genre to reach over 400 and is #5 overall.)
-
Other has 303 games or 9.2% of the Switch lineup. Other is #3 among
all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #10 in overall
genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more Other games on
Switch in THREE YEARS than the N64 had games in it's entire lifetime,
period.
* Storyline: While
the story is the same as Puzzle and Shooters, Other has a few more
stakes since they are 58 games away from being #1 among Other genres
on all Nintendo platforms and 19 games away from #2 among Other genre
on all Nintendo platforms. The major difference here is that DS and
Wii had a number of Other genres that had more games than in the
other major genres. This will not be the case with Switch. (Other
is the sixth genre to surpass 400 games and is #4 overall. They have
the fastest chance to reach 500 games.)
Side
Note: I'll breakdown the Other genres and
Sports genres by genre in a separate section.
- Simulation has
203 games on Switch. Simulation is #2 among all Nintendo platforms in
the same genre; but is #23 in overall genres among all Nintendo
platforms. Simulation also became the 7th Switch genre to reach over
200 games, a new record among all Nintendo platforms.
*Storyline:
There are two here: Simulation looks to make a major run
up with various simulation developers making their games available to
Switch in the next couple of years. While I don't expect Switch to
make it to #1 among simulations until Aligned Year 5; I do expect
Simulation to target into the Top 15 among all genres by the end of
Aligned Year 4 given the pace.
- Racing has 143 games on
Switch. Racing is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre;
but is tied for #30 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms,
being the eighth Switch genre to be in the Top 30.
*Storyline:
Racing has pretty much proven it's point and it's just
increasing it's rank further.
- Sports has 141 games on
Switch. Sports is #3 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre;
but is #32 in overall genres among all Nintendo
platforms.
*Storyline:
Sports is probably the most questionable one of all the
major genres on Nintendo Switch. They need 50 games to reach #1 among
all Nintendo platforms in the same genre, beating Wii; and only need
3 games to surpass SNES for second. (Already
surpassed.) The current pace would put
them within striking distance of #1; but there are no assurances
they'll get to #1, even in the next couple of years. Sports might be
the only genre on Switch that might not be #1 when this is all said
and done. Getting into the Top 30 will be a more doable event since
they will only need 15 games to make it there for sure. (They
are already in #30 place and are within striking distance of #29.
After they surpass 174 games; they are only 16 games away from
beating Sports for Wii. Difficult, but still doable.)
Still, in spite of all this, the fact that Switch is able to make it
this far and still surpass all but two platforms is amazing
considering the lack of Electronic Arts on board, something SNES and
Wii had a lot of in terms of support.
-
Fighting is in last place among Switch genres with 139 games.
Fighting is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is
#33 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms.
*
Storyline: Fighting is more than proven
it's point and it's just increasing it's rank further. Although
getting 156 games and doubling Wii's numbers would be great, and
making a run for Top 30 is also possible, despite it's slow pace.
(Currently in 31st place, but is chipping
away.)
[e.]
Others And Sports
Breakdown:
http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/Other%20Genre%20Breakdown.txt
http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/Sports%20Genre%20Breakdown.txt
-
Switch's #1 Others genre is Party at 69 games. Party is #1 on all
Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but is tied for third with DS
Edutainment Game overall on all Nintendo platforms.
*Storyline:
Party still needs 40 games to surpass Music on Wii to
reach #1 overall; but only needs 7 gamesd to surpass 2nd with Music
on DS.
- Switch's #2 Others genre is Board Game at 41 games.
Board Games are #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but
is #8 overall on all Nintendo platforms.
*Storyline:
Board Games only need 3 games to make it to #6 overall.
If they stay at the current pace, they would be within striking
distance of Party for Wii with 62 games.
- Switch's #3 Others
genre is Music Game at 36 games. Music Games are #3 on all Nintendo
platforms of the same genre; but is #9 overall on all Nintendo
platforms.
*Storyline: Music
Games need 8 games to make it to #7 overall. Pure music games are
hard to come by these days compared to the DS/Wii era; so this will
be a tough one to haul, and it's unlikely that they will surpass DS
and Wii when it's all said and done. However, as a sub-genre, this
genre is big in other games, so the music genre hasn't died out; it
merely got combined with other genres.
- Switch's #4 Others
genre is Visual Novel at 31 games. Visual Novels are #1 on all
Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but is #10 overall on all
Nintendo platforms.
*Storyline:
Due to the end of PlayStation Vita, Sony having no
desire to create another portable and Switch being the next logical
pick due to it's hybrid nature; Visual Novels have exploded to the
point where by the next aligned year, it could easily be a Top 5
overall contender.
- Switch's #5 Others genre is Card Game at
28 Games. It is #2 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
*
Storyline: If Card games can get 16 more
games, it will easily be in the Top Ten and become the fifth genre on
Switch to do so.
- Other Notables:
Edutainment has 20 games; 3rd place in the same genre on
all Nintendo platforms. Pinball games is at 19 games, #1 among all
Nintendo platforms of the same genre. Mahjong games is at 13 games,
#1 among all Nintendo platforms. Both Arcade, Applications and TV
Quiz Show are at 9 apiece. TV Quiz Show & Applications is #4
among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre, Arcade Compilation is
#2 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre. Pool Game has 6
games, tied for #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
*
Storyline: Edutainment needs 10 games to get
to second place, and really there is no chance it's catching up to
the DS counterpart at 69 games. Wii at 29 games is much more doable.
Pinball Games has a chance to become the seven Other genre to reach
20 games and there is a good chance we will see 11 Other genres reach
10 games or more.
- Sports #1 genre on
Switch is Soccer (World's Football)
is 31 games. Obviously it's #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same
genre; but is #2 overall on all Nintendo platforms.
*
Storyline: Soccer needs just 3 games to
surpass Wii Olympics for #1 overall on all Nintendo platforms.
Despite Switch's struggles in the Sports genre in general, it's still
amazing that Soccer has done so well.
- Sports #2 and #3 genre
on Switch is a tie between Golf and Olympics at 14 games apiece. Golf
and OIympics are #2 among all Nintendo Platforms of the same
genres.
* Storyline: If
you are looking for two genres to get into the Top Ten overall, these
are the two. Golf gets into the Top Ten and becomes #1 overall in the
same genre, needing only four games to do so. Olympics would need 20
games to reach #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
-Sports #4 genre on Switch is Tennis with 13 games. Tennis is
currently tied with Wii for #1 for Nintendo platforms in the same
genre.
* Storyline: This
might be another contender to be in the Top Ten overall if everything
goes according to plan.
- Sports #5 genre on Switch is
Baseball with 9 games. Baseball is currently 7th for Nintendo
platforms in the same genre.
*
Storyline: Right now, becoming the fifth
Sports genre to reach ten or more games and become the third platform
to pull it off is more important at this point than anything.
Surpassing Gamecube for sixth is also next and most likely, maybe GBA
for fifth.
- Other Notables:
Basketball, Bowling and Fishing have 8 games apiece. Basketball is
tied for sixth place among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
Fishing is #2 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre. Bowling
is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre. Dodgeball has 7
games and is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
Boxing and American Football each have 6 games. Boxing is tied for #3
among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and American Football
is tied for #9 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
*
Storyline: Basketball and Fishing becoming
the sixth and seventh Sports genres with 10 or more games is very
likely. Dodgeball is a long shot and Bowling is unlikely. Boxing
might make a run for #1 among it's genre; but American Football is
pretty much stuck without EA support. I'm more surprised that despite
all this, this is still better support than the entire 3DS/Wiiu era.
Also unrelated: Volleyball only needs one more game for Switch to be
#1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and Rugby and
Cricket have debuted on Nintendo platforms for the first time in
North America.
[f.]
Monthly Breakdown
Year One:
March 2017- 29; April- 13; May- 12; June- 12; July- 21;
August- 27; September- 43; October- 51; November- 62; December- 70 ;
January 2018- 47; February- 67.
Minimum:
12 - Maximum: 70 -
Average Per Month:
39.
Year Two: March
2018- 79, April- 80, May- 102, June- 80, July 2018 - 97, August- 106,
September- 127 , October- 128, November- 139 , December - 108,
January 2019- 151, February - 128.
Minimum:
79 - Maximum: 151
- Average Per Month: 110.
Year
Three: March 2019- 119, April- 126, May- 122,
June- 110, July- 121, August- 128, September- 140, October- 179,
November- 133, December- 96, January 2020- 115, February-
137.
Minimum: 96
- Maximum: 179 -
Average Per Month:
126
- In Aligned Year 3:
1516 games were released on Switch, 4.14 games released
per day, 29.13 games per week; which is dangerously close to the 30
game a week limit Nintendo imposed on itself. In Calendar Year 2019:
1553 games were released on Switch; 4.25 games released per day,
29.86 games released per week.
- Calendar Year 2019 saw 11 out of
12 months with a hundred or more games, and was four games away from
perfection. This also applies to the Aligned Year 3.
- Overall,
Switch had 19 months of 100 or more games released in a month. And 21
months where they had more games released in a month than the peak of
Nintendo DS which is 82 games or more.
- October 2019 saw 179
games released, setting a new monthly record for a Nintendo platform.
September 2019 saw a week where Switch had 55 games. In October 2019;
a two week period had 90+ games. The last week of Aligned Year 3 saw
48 games.
- Here is the fiscal numbers
breakdown:
Fiscal Year 2016: 29 games.
Fiscal Year 2017:
504 games.
Fiscal Year 2018: 1365 games.
Fiscal Year 2019: 1534
games.
- For the fiscal, this means 4.2 games a day, 29.5
games a week and 127.8 games a month.
*
Storyline for Aligned Year 4: I expect
Nintendo DS to be out of the Top 25 in highest months ever and there
is a good chance Switch gets two years worth of 100 games or more,
maybe even 25 months. They only need four to six months to pull it
off. I don't think Nintendo will attempt to flood the store with over
140 games a month ever again, they don't need to anymore. Heck, to
get to 5000 games, they need 1700 games in three years, which is less
than 600 games a year easily and they are averaging 1200 games a year
even at this point. While the numbers have increased, the margin
compared to last year is much smaller, so Nintendo seems to have a
soft limit on number of releases per year, although it's much more
generous than at any time in Nintendo's history. Finally; fiscal 2019
has 28 days left and needs only 91 games to reach 1500 games and
achieve a triple crown milestone of 1500 games or more for fiscal
2019, aligned year 3 and calendar year 2019.
[g.]
Publisher and Developer Breakdown by Milestones
-
Both publishers and developers are #1 on all Nintendo platforms with
2 or more games published and developed, at 392 publishers and 480
developers in that order. The gap between 1 game and done and more
than 1 game is 605 publishers and 1390 developers. In terms of
publishers; Switch has more publishers than the entire Yamaguchi era
combined.
* Storyline: As
1000 publishers and 2000 developers with at least one or more game on
Switch is assured; how about 500 publishers and developers with 2 or
more games published and developed in that order? That could easily
happen before Aligned Year 4 is said and done. Also, a chance for
publishers to reach 458 and surpass the entire Iwata-era in terms of
publishers sans Switch.
- Switch is #1 among publishers with
five or more games with 147. Switch is #2 among publishers with five
or more games with 93, with Nintendo DS being higher at 108.
*
Storyline: Nintendo DS's double value is 154;
so Switch only needs 8 publishers to double DS's number of publishers
with five or more games. Considering the pace, 200 publishers with
five or more sounds like a long shot, but I wouldn't discount that
milestone happening. Developers need 16 developers with five or more
to take #1 and there are lots of 3's/4's in the running so that is
likely to happen in Aligned Year 4.
- Switch is #1 among
publishers with ten or more games with 56. Switch is #3 among
developers with ten or more games with 27.
*Storyline:
Among publishers, there are lots of 8's/9's, so expect
these numbers to increase. Maybe one day in another couple years, we
will be talking about 100 publishers releasing ten or more games; but
that's comically pointless now. Developers on the other hand, they
need 17 developers and they don't quite have enough 8's/9's to make
it to #1 held by Nintendo DS with 43; but Wii has 30; so only four
are needed to gain second place and Switch has lots of 9's to pull
this off safely.
- Switch is tied for second among publishers
with 25 or more games with 18, to only Nintendo DS who has 20. Switch
is tied for fourth with 3 publishers.
*Storyline:
Publishers is almost a lock within the next month as
Nippon Ichi Software and Baltoro/Cool Small Games will likely have
games released. Nippon Ichi is releasing three games and Baltoro is
releasing games on a regular basis, and only needs one to reach 25
games. This will assure a tie for first. Devolver Digital, PQube,
Kairosoft and THQ Nordic are also likely to reach 25 games by the end
of the Aligned Year four, sewing up the record with ease. Now, the
developer side is even more interesting as Baltoro Games, Kairosoft
and Konami are within four games of reaching 25. Baltoro Games is
likely, Kairosoft will likely happen in roughly six months from now
and Konami will happen due in small part to the Arcade Archives
entry. Those three alone will give Switch 6 developers with 25 or
more and outright give third place. Capcom, M2, Sabec, Ubi Soft and
maybe EXE Create all have a shot, but are more longshots for Aligned
Year 4.
- Switch is fourth place among
publishers with 50 or more games with 4. Switch is tied for second
with DS with 2 developers.
* Storyline:
There are four publishers within ten games of 50 or
more: Playdius and Ultimate Games with 44, QubicGames with 42 and
Digerati with 40. Ultimate Games and QubicGames are very likely to
reach 50 or more by the end of Aligned Year Four. Digerati will
likely happen in Aligned Year 5 as well as Playdius, so expect them
to be tied for third place when the year is out. If all four make it,
it will be second place outright with 8. Sega and Sometimes You might
make it in Aligned Year 5 or 6. Might. As for developers, I think Wii
might be able to stop Switch from this milestone since G-Mode has
only 28 games and I doubt that they will be able to get to even three
developers at this point.
- Switch is tied for third among
publishers with 100 or more games. SNK Corporation on Switch is the
closest developer to have 100 games or more developed at 94 games.
*
Storyline: Nintendo will surpass 100 games
for sure in spite of issues due to the recent CONVID-19 outbreaks.
While Forever Entertainment, Ratalaika Games and Ultimate Games are
still far behind to getting to 100 games, their pace of releases
might get them there in late Aligned Year 4 or early Aligned Year 5.
That would give them five publishers with 100 games or more which
would be a record. Also, in Aligned Year 5, I expect Hamster to be
the first publishers to surpass 250 games or more. A feat even
Nintendo for 3DS couldn't do, despite being within one game of making
history.
[h.]
ESRB Breakdown
- Switch has 301
M-Rated games on Switch. This is more than all 12 platforms sans
Switch combined. Considering that there are more M-Rated games on
Switch in THREE YEARS than N64 had games, period; a percentage
breakdown would be useless and the difference is literally .3% in
favor of N64 (Switch's percentage is 9.1%).
- There are roughly
924 T-Rated games, 794 E+ Titles and 1311 E-rated games.
*
Storyline: I was going to do a comparison
with PS4, but PS4 no longer has a filter for ESRB ratings and neither
do the other systems. The last year, PS4 had 320 M-rated games, so
I'm guessing Switch really was gaining on it and the other systems.
Right now, I'm certain Switch has more than every console and
portable except for XBOX 360, PS4 and PS3; which is an amazing feat
for a system that is produced by a company where M-rated titles are
not a selling point. Case in point; the rest of the games are pretty
much rated as expected, except there are more T-rated titles than
E10+ rated games.
[2.] Nintendo Switch Sales
As of March 31st,
2020:
- Switch has surpassed XBOX
One and SNES in hardware sales at 55.77 million units and software is
at 356.24 million units, which is striking distance from the 3DS
overall. The tie ratio is 6.39.
- Mario
Kart 8 Deluxe sold 24.77 million units and is
the highest selling portable Mario Kart game of all time and second
highest of any Nintendo platform, only Mario Kart Wii has more with
37 million units.
- Super Smash
Brothers Ultimate sold 18.84 million is the
highest selling fighting game of all time and no one is touching that
one. Also within 1.2 million units of surpassing 20 million units.
-
Zelda: Breath of the Wild sold
17.41 million and has more units sold than Ocarina of Time (N64) and
Twilight Princess (Wii) combined. It also outsold both Ocarina of
Time (original and 3DS remake) combined.
- Super
Mario Odyssey sold 17.41 million units (3D
platformer) has surpassed Super Mario Brothers 3 (2D platformer). It
is now within striking distance of 20 million units and both Super
Mario World and Super Mario Land.
- Pokemon
Sword and Shield sold 17.37 million units and
are within 300,000 units of being the third highest selling Pokemon
game of all time.
- Pokemon Let's Go
Pikachu/Let's Go Eevee! sold 11.97 million
units, which is similar to Pokemon FireRed/Leaf Green. It is
currently fifth highest among Pokemon remakes.
- Animal
Crossing: New Horizons sold 11.77 million
units in 11 DAYS; surpassing Animal Crossing: Wild World for second
among Animal Crossing games. (Note
from the Future: As of April 26,
2020; Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold 13.41 million units,
becoming the highest selling Animal Crossing game of all time.)
-
Splatoon 2 sold 10.13
million units.
- Super Mario Party
sold 10.10 million units, becoming the highest selling
Mario Party game or all time and also surpassing Wii Party in the
process. That means NINE games reached ten million units or more.
-
New Super Mario Brothers DX sold
6.60 million units - Higher than both NSMB U and NSLB U
separately.
- Luigi's Mansion 3
sold 6.33 million units and has surpassed Luigi's
Mansion 2 for highest selling Luigi's Mansion game of all time.
-
Super Mario Maker 2: sold
5.48 million units, which is the highest in the Maker series.
** Other Notables:**
Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening: 4.38
million units - Higher than the original series and DX remake.
1-2
Switch: 3.01 million units. Despite it's numbers compared to Wii
Play, it's still higher than any game in the Wario Ware series.
Fire
Emblem: Three Houses: 2.87 million units - Better than Awakening,
below Fates for #1 in Fire Emblem games overall.
Mario Tennis
Aces: 2.75 million units - Highest selling Mario Tennis game
ever.
Ring Fit Adventure: 2.73 million units - Much better
than Nintendo Labo thanks to it's health angle, but the numbers are
very low due to shortages in part due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Kirby
Star Allies: 2.56 million units - 3rd highest Kirby title ever as
a portable, highest selling Kirby game as a console.
Donkey
Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: 2.25 million units.
Xenoblade
Chronicles 2: 1.73 million units.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom
Battle: 2 million units+
Octopath Traveler: 2 million
units+
Minecraft: 1.89 million units+
Pokemon Mystery
Dungeon: Rescue Team DX: 1.26 million units.
Captain Toad:
Treasure Tracker: 1.18 million units
Pokken Tournament DX:
1.16 million units+
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim: 1.15
million units.
Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy: 1.11
million units.
Yoshi's Crafted World: 1.11 million
units
FIFA 18: 1.10 million units.
Nintendo Labo
Toy-Con 01: Variety Kit: 1.09 million units
Astral Chain:
1.08 million units - Is the fifth highest selling game in
PlatniumGames history; and their first game on a Nintendo platform to
sell over a million.
Ultimate Alliance 3: 1.08 million - Is
the second highest in history, although that's because XBOX 360's
version was bundled with the system.
Enter the Gungeon: 1
million units+
* Storyline: The biggest issue for sales
in general right now is due to the COVID-19 outbreak in key
production areas for hardware and accessories; including physical
cards for the Switch. Until the virus is contained, don't be
surprised if the numbers for the next fiscal year are small even
though the sell through rate is nigh 100%. Ring Fit Adventure is a
huge victim of this, as demand is high but product is dangerously
low. In software, it's way too early to predict how the evergreens
will fare in the face of the virus, but I do expect Animal Crossing:
New Horizons to do massive numbers. I expect Nintendo to start
releasing smaller games that don't really move much hardware for a
while until the virus blows over. Maybe they'll finally bring the
Famicom Detective club series remakes over to outside Japan. We'll
see. Brain Age would fit a small game, and I'm surprised it is not in
North America at the moment. I wonder if there is a trademark issue
with the stylus that is needed to play that game that I'm not aware
of. I suspect Bayonetta 3 will be revealed, maybe Detective Pikachu
2; but everything else is basically 2021 and beyond. Metroid Prime 4
isn't coming out this year and Breath of the Wild 2 might be shown;
but it's questionable as a 2020 release. Despite this, indies and
third parties, along with Hamster, will provide the bulk of releases
for Aligned Year 4 as usual.
[3.] Final Thoughts
Three years ago today, I felt Nintendo Switch had
a shot of becoming one of the most amazing systems in recent memory.
This system has exceeded expectations in so many ways that I have to
be reminded that this all happened in three years and not at the end
of the system's life. NCL president Shuntaro Furukawa actually
revealed that the Switch is nearing the halfway point of it's life,
so there is still THREE YEARS of full support for certain, so it will
be 2023 before Switch dies down and the next system arrives. In other
words, there will be no console system until then at the earliest
because the Switch is a hybrid system that is both console and
portable. It's Wii and DS all over again, except it's going to be
much more difficult to put the system in a box in the case of Switch.
Nintendo might support the system until 2027 and beyond. While
consoles last from 5-11 years and portables are 5-14 years, we never
had anything like Switch, so who knows how long it lasts. It might be
15 years for all I know. It's certainly lasting at least six years
and that's just full support. Aligned Year 4 is the year the numbers
start to plateau compared to last year. There's no way Nintendo is
going to allow 179 games in one month ever again. Their soft limit
seems to be around 1560 games. I expect 1200 games or more this game
for sure, but it won't be the mind blowing numbers they did this
aligned year. There are still records and milestones left to be
broken and I hope to be there at the end of Aligned Year Six,
assuming my North American Release List doesn't break over 500 KB;
which is likely to happen if they reach over 5000 games.
I end this with saying this and unlike last year; it's not over the top. It's really to the point and to quote Jack Edwards, the Boston Bruins commentator: "Are you having fun, yet?!"