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Nintendo Switch Aligned Year Five Report

Updated: 03/03/2023


[0.] Introduction and Conclusion

"Uh-Oh, Nintendo is using curation like a toy again!" - Me, after writing all the data for this report.

The biggest difference between the last couple of years and now is that I was fully prepared for these records and milestones to occur. It's like I knew that this was coming as we are now reaching the point where I could see Switch have more support than PlayStation 4 ever did. Sure, it may not be by much and the type of support might be different, but since when has anyone had that kind of conversation?! The even scarier part is that this was likely Satoru Iwata's idea all along as he was trying to figure out ways to increase of the number of games on Nintendo platforms since day one when he became president of Nintendo Company Limited. The tipping point was policy changes when Wii U was flopping left and right, but the process started pretty much with Gameboy Advance after N64 and Virtual Boy's debacles of games lineup. When you go through this report and everything in it, I want you to remind yourself: "This all happened in just five years!". When you compare them to other Nintendo system, remember my refrain: "This all happened in just five years!". Understand why a lot of developers dread Nintendo's curation and remember the refrain: "This all happened in just five years!" Add on Switch's success, eShop improvements, and Nintendo's decision to refrain from censoring third party games -- letting the developers decide the content, or letting the ratings board decide the ratings for each game, unlike Sony's "Sony Check" policy; but this report isn't really about them -- and you have a recipe for this report happening.

To make things even more dreadful, the higher ups of Nintendo have stated that Switch is only halfway through the systems' run. I don't believe that Nintendo will get through full support for another five years, but even two full years of support would be absurd at this point, going through the data that I have compiled since starting this type of hobby in 2017. I think Nintendo is going all in on Switch until they figure out how to sell a new system that can copy the success Nintendo Switch had, instead of how Wii ended and the Wii U came out, soiling Nintendo's reputation which can still be felt even at this point, although most of the stench is gone. Nintendo Switch is the only system I have compiled that I had to split the game list and breakdowns into two due to 50Webs' file size limit. The good news is that it's bigger than last year, the bad news is, it's still only 512K, and the game list alone has reached 411K already. There is an outside chance that the game list will be literally two separate files. Thankfully, by splitting the files, the breakdown file is safe and there is little increase; and the game list increases have slowed down considerably, buying the file more time to breathe.

Report of Aligned Year 3
Report of Aligned Year 4
Report of Aligned Year 6


Also, I will not be doing a halfway point report for Aligned Year 6. I have a lot of other things to do that need to be done. Also, I'm splitting up the Game List Stats and the Sales Stats in two separate reports due to the vast amount of detail I have seen doing these reports. There will also be no separate conclusion to this report because I don't have any new words to describe this other than what I wrote at the end of year two's report:

"Regardless, it's safe to say that Nintendo Switch's run was without question the most amazing, awesome, brutal, cheerful, depressing, deranged, exciting, flowering, graceful, hardening, idiotic, jamming, killing, laughable, monsterous, nasty, nice, over the top, pouring like a flood, quite redonkulous, righteous, silly, tantalizing, underrated, varied, wonderful, xtreme, yay inducing, zen of a game line I have ever seen in the history of Nintendo."

But enough of me having a headache, let's begin the rundown of Aligned Year 5 and the story lines for Aligned Year 6.

[1.] Nintendo Switch North American Game Release List Stats

All Nintendo Platforms: http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/NintendoPlatform.txt
Nintendo Switch Game List: http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/SwitchAA.txt
Nintendo Switch Breakdown: http://cloudkicker.50webs.com/SwitchBD.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.

[a.] Total Number Of Games

Unless otherwise stated, these figures apply to the North American region. The game list includes games that were de-listed titles from the eShop. If the games are available separately as well as a compilation, the games separately will count, unless the compilation came first and the separate games came later in the case of the Capcom Arcade Stadium.

[i.] By Life To Date (March 3rd, 2017-March 2nd, 2022, Inclusive)

- Overall, the Nintendo Switch reached 7087 games as of March 2nd, 2022 inclusive, 1826 days total. Out of those figures, 6935 games were published by third party publishers, and 7001 games were developed by third party developers.
- On average 1417 games were released per year, up from 1267 games per year (+150 games); more on average than the entire PlayStation lineup in North America. Margin is down by +15 games compared to last year.
- 3.9 games per day were released, 27.1 games per week, 118.1 games per month.
- The lowest number of releases in one month is 12 in May and June of 2017.
- The highest number of releases in one month is 220 in October of 2021.
- The lowest number of releases in one week is 2 which happened five times, all in 2017.
- The highest number of releases in one week is 75 which happened the week ending on October 30th, 2017.
- The highest number of releases in one day was 35 on Thursday, September 7th, 2019.

- Overall Peak Game Releases by Day:

Sunday: 2 (Week 130, 232, 245)
Monday: 26 (Week 244)
Tuesday: 29 (Week 82)
Wednesday: 11 (Week 192)
Thursday: 35 (Week 132)
Friday: 17 (Week 170, 194, 256)
Saturday: 6 (Week 233)

- Number of weeks where all days had at least 1 game released: 14 (Week 109, 130, 183, 192, 204, 208, 210, 214, 223, 228, 230, 239, 245, 253).

[ii.] By Calendar Year 2021 (January 1st-December 31st, Inclusive)

- In calendar 2021; Nintendo Switch had 1982 games released.
- This is +271 more games compared to 2020's 1711 games. This is a much higher margin of games compared to 2019/2020 (+158 games).
- 5.4 games per day were released, 38.1 games per week, 165.2 games per month.
- This is the second calendar year where every single month had 100 or more games released.
- February 2021 and December 2021 were the slowest months of calendar year with 143 games for February 2021 and 120 games in December 2021, which was the fewest games in a month since January 2020 at 115 games. Otherwise, every month surpass at least 150 games.
- December 2021 was the only month that was down from last year, November 2021 was the only other month to not have an increase as it was flat. This also applies to fiscal year and aligned year 5.
- This surpasses Wii (2006-2020), PS2 (2000-2012) and XBOX 360 (2005-2018) LTD game releases in North America in just one year.
- This represents 96.8% of the entire Nintendo DS (2004-2016) lineup in North America in just one year.


- 2021 Breakdown By Month: January- 155, February- 143; March- 173, April- 165, May- 173, June- 152, July- 169, August- 159, September- 198, October- 220, November- 155, December- 120.

Minimum: 120, Maximum: 220, Average: 165.

- 2020 Breakdown: January- 115, February- 137; March- 128, April- 122, May- 141, June- 135, July- 150, August- 131, September- 143, October- 206, November- 155, December- 148.

Minimum: 115, Maximum: 206, Average: 143.

- 2019 Breakdown: January 2019- 151, February - 128; March- 119, April- 126, May- 122, June- 110, July- 121, August- 128, September- 140, October- 179, November- 133, December- 96.

Minimum: 96, Maximum: 179; Average: 129.

- 2018 Breakdown: January 2018- 47; February- 67, March- 79, April- 80, May- 102, June- 80, July 2018 - 97, August- 106, September- 127 , October- 128, November- 139 , December - 108.

Minimum: 47, Maximum: 139, Average: 97.


- 2017 Breakdown: March 2017- 29; April- 13; May- 12; June- 12; July- 21; August- 27; September- 43; October- 51; November- 62; December- 70.

Minimum: 12, Maximum: 70, Average: 34.


[iii.] By Aligned Year 5 (March 3rd- March 2nd inclusive)

- Align year 5 had 2020 games released on Switch.
- 1761 games came out in aligned year 4; an increase of 259; a margin higher then Year 3/4 with 244 games.
- 5.5 games per day were released, 38.8 games per week, 168.2 games per month.
- All 12 months had at least 120 games released, and only December 2021 had less than 150 games in a month. First time the minimum amount of games per month went down (-2 games).
- In aligned year 5; Switch surpassed Wii (2006-2020), PS2 (2000-2012) and XBOX 360 (2005-2018) LTD in terms of game releases in North America in just one full year.
- Switch managed to get 98.6% of the entire Nintendo DS (2004-2016) LTD in terms of game releases in North America with being just 28 games short of the mark.


- Align Year 5 Breakdown By Month: March 2021- 173, April- 165, May- 173, June- 152, July- 169, August- 159, September- 198, October- 220, November- 155, December- 120, January 2022- 172, February- 161.

Minimum: 120, Maximum: 220, Average: 165.


- Align Year 4: March 2020- 128, April- 122, May- 141, June- 135, July- 150, August- 131, September- 143, October- 206, November- 155, December- 148, January 2021- 155, February- 143.

Minimum: 122, Maximum: 206, Average: 147.


- Align Year 3: 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.


- Align Year 2: 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.


- Align Year 1: 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 2018- 67.

Minimum: 12 - Maximum: 70 - Average Per Month: 39.


[iv.] By Fiscal Year 2021 (April 1st-March 31st, Inclusive)

- 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.
Fiscal Year 2020: 1802 games.
Fiscal Year 2021: 2012 games.

- This means 5.5 games a day, 38.7 games a week, 167.7 games a month.
- This means Fiscal Year numbers for 2021 surpass Wii's and XBOX 360's North America LTD release numbers.
- This means fiscal year numbers are 98.2% the numbers of the Nintendo DS's North America LTD release numbers.


[v.] ESRB Breakdown

- Switch has 670 M-Rated games on Switch; an average of 134 M-rated games a year and there were 196 M-Rated games this year alone. This is more than all 12 platforms sans Switch combined. Considering that there are more M-Rated games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than N64, NES, Gameboy, Gamecube and Gameboy Color had games, period; a percentage breakdown would be useless and the difference is slighty ahead of N64 (Switch's percentage is 9.5%) and well ahead of Gameboy Color.

*Notice: I will no longer be counting M-rated nor other ESRB breakdowns any longer due to massive changes on Nintendo's own website which now includes DLC content as part of the rating.


[vi.] Storylines For Aligned Year 6:

- By Life To Date:

* Nintendo Switch achieved the pipe dream of getting over 7000 games within a five year span. While Steam can do this year in and year out, the fact that a closed-garden ecosystem was able to do this in five years let alone at all is amazing. Now, it's time for the next step in this system's run: Reach the mythical 10,000 games or more. It could happen in a year and a half to three years depending on how the game releases go. It's too early to tell right now given the increases from last year in Calendar Year 2022.

* Once 10,000 games is surpassed, 10,374 games is the next goal as it would mean Nintendo Switch would surpass all other Nintendo platforms combined in terms of game releases in North America.


- By Aligned Year 6, Fiscal Year 6 and 2022 Calendar Year:

* Here's an interesting milestone/record to shoot for: Having your peak in terms of video game release figures. Currently; the number is 2020 games, even one more game than that would be huge as Nintendo systems at their peak stay at aligned year five. There are currently two video game systems that I have compiled data for that peaked in aligned year six: PlayStation Portable, even though that was due to sinking numbers in the earlier aligned years and needed PSP Minis and PlayStation classics to raise those numbers up. The other one is XBOX 360 by the thinnest of margins; but it still happened. I wouldn't be surprised if PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, XBOX One, and PlayStation Vita had that aligned year six peak.

* Another reason to pull off the peak in aligned year six: To try to pull off the entire LTD Nintendo DS (2004-2016) games lineup in one year and surpass it, at 2048 games.


- ESRB Breakdown:

* A long term goal would be getting 1000 M-rated games on the Switch. That is currently way too far away at this time. However, having more M-rated games than SNES and Sega Genesis (the era where the ESRB officially started) has games would be a mighty fine start and very doable.

- Other Notables:

* Now that the five year mark has been passed, here's a list of Nintendo Platforms which show how they fared at the five year mark.

Number of Games Released On Each Platform at Five Years:
[1.] Switch 7087/????? - (????) (Projected)
[2.] Wii U 1004/1050 - ( 46) (Projected)
[3.] 3DS 955/1335 - ( 380) (Projected)
[4.] Wii 1629/1790 - ( 161)
[5.] NDS 1219/2048 - ( 829)
[6.] GBA 816/950 - ( 134)
[7.] NGC 550/558 - ( 8)
[8.] GBC 447/447 - ( 0)
[9.] N64 292/296 - ( 4)
[10] VB 14/14 - ( 0)
[11] SNES 676/714 - ( 38)
[12] NGB 353/502 - ( 149)
[13] NES 386/670 - ( 284)


The first figure is "Number of Games Released At The End of Year 5/Number of Games Released Overall". The second figure is (Number of Games Released Year Six Onward). Wii U and 3DS are still active at the time of this writing, but are expected to be final numbers at March 31st, 2022 when submissions for new games officially end and the closing of both eShops occurs a year later. Expect Switch to surpass all systems combined in about a year from now, if not within 18 months (at 2033 games). Switch will surpass Gamecube, Gameboy Color, Nintendo 64 and Virtual Boy combined on March 3rd alone. Switch will surpass SNES and Wii U within a week or two after that, then Gameboy Advance, and Gameboy likely within one month and Wii within six weeks. That would leave NES, 3DS and DS left which should all be surpassed within 6-8 months.

* Also of note: If Switch somehow reaches 14,175 games (which is probably impossible at this point), it would be the first Nintendo platform to have more games after year five than the first five years, meaning a percentage of less than 50%. Nintendo DS's percentage is 59% in the first five years, in case anyone is keeping track.


[b.] Number of Publishers and Developers Overall

Side Note: In the case of developers, it can be quite messy since a lot of games 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.

-1648 publishers have published at one game on Nintendo Switch, 328 new publishers debuted new games this year (up 8 publishers from last year) and an average of 330 new publishers per year, which is almost perfectly flat from last year. (Slightly down by 0.2 publishers.) These margins are higher than the Wii U had in it's lifetime in terms of publisher debuts.

- That is tripled the amount of publishers in the entire Yamaguchi era (428 publishers combined) and surpass the entire Iwata era sans Switch (873 publishers combined). Also surpasses all platforms sans Switch combined (1301 publishers combined.)

- The average number of games per publisher is 4.30; the third lowest in Nintendo history. The highest is GBA with 14.39 games per publisher.

- 3478 developers have developed at least one game on Nintendo Switch, 823 new developers debuted new games this year (up 38 developers from last year) and an average of 696 new developers per year, an increase of 73 developers on average.

- Switch has surpassed the Yamaguchi era in total number of developers combined (1245 developers combined), and the Iwata era in total number of developers combined (1916 developers combined). This means Switch has surpassed all Nintendo platforms sans Switch combined (3161 developers) in terms of debuts for developers.

- The average number of games per developer is 2.04; 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.

- The developers to publisher ratio is 2.11; third lowest to Wiiu's 1.45 and 3DS's 1.93.

* Storylines for Aligned Year 6:

- Publishers: If Switch were to maintain the number of new publishers releasing games, maybe have an increase: Switch could make a run for 2000 publishers for the Switch alone. Changes in policy to allow Indies to publish their wares have led to figures exploding in addition to the success of the Switch itself and the presence of the eShop itself.

- Developers: If Switch were able to maintain the number of new developers and increase the figures per year, they will surpass 4000 developers, and maybe make a run for 4500 developers.

[c.] Publisher & Developer Breakdown

- Hamster is the number one publisher for Switch at 300 games; the highest total regardless of being a first or third party publisher among all Nintendo platforms.

- Ratalaika Games has 163 games in second place, becoming the second biggest third party publisher on a Nintendo platform in 5th place.

- Nintendo has 152 games in third place, meaning the gap is a -148; the biggest gap in Nintendo platform history where Nintendo is not in first place. GBA has the second largest at -67; and Nintendo was also in third place. Nintendo is also eighth place overall in terms of publishing on all platforms.

- Ultimate Games is in fourth place at 139 games and is ninth place among all Nintendo platforms.

- Rounding out the Top 10 after that are eastasiasoft at 87 games, Forever Entertainment at 86 games, QubicGames at 72 games, Pix Arts at 71 games, QUByte Interactive at 69 and both Playdius and Sega are tied for tenth place at 67.

- Top Ten Publishing Minimum is at 67 games, which is the highest minimum for any Nintendo platform in history.

- SNK Corporation is the #1 developer for Switch at 106 games; the highest total for a developer first or third party ever and the only developer to surpass 100 games developed among all Nintendo platforms.

- Nintendo is in second place with 86 games. This is the third highest total for a developer first or third party ever and second highest for first party only to Wii U's 91 games. This means a gap of -20 games.

- Pix Arts is in third place with 70 games, becoming the second biggest third party developer and have the fifth highest total among all Nintendo platforms.

- Rounding out the Top Ten after that are Benjamin Kistler at 49 games, Sabec at 47 games, Konami at 44 games, KairoSoft at 38 games, Digital Game Group and G-Mode tied at 37 games and Artifex Mundi at 36 games.

- Top Ten Developing Minimum is at 36; which is now a new Nintendo record.

* Storylines for Aligned Year 6:

+ Here's the Top 10 Publishers if the figures were launched aligned to five years:

Launched Aligned Number of Games at Five Years:
[1.] Hamster (Switch*) : 300 (--)
[2.] Nintendo (WiiU) : 195 (0)
[3.] Nintendo (3DS) : 189 (60)
[4.] Ratalaika (Switch*) : 163 (--)
[5.] Nintendo (Switch*) : 152 (--)
[6.] Nintendo (Wii) : 144 (9)
[7.] Ultimate Games (Switch*): 139 (--)
[8.] Ubi Soft (NDS) : 131 (26)
[9.] Nintendo (NDS) : 125 (51)
[10.] T*HQ (GBA) : 101 (23)


+ Nintendo's output for the Nintendo Switch is actually more than the Wii at this point and will surpass Wii with ease overall within the next two months. Both the Wii U/3DS and Wii/DS eras released the same amount of games after Year 5: 60 games. The major difference is that when it comes to the console side, the combined total number of games after five years is literally nine games. To be fair, Nintendo abandoned Wii U all together in terms of first party support once Zelda: Breath of the Wild was released and Switch was born. This will be the first time that a Nintendo console will have more than ten games released after five years on the market thanks to Switch being a hybrid. If Switch gets at least 60 games after the five year mark, Nintendo as a publisher will be at 212 games or more, which would be the second highest mark for a first party publisher.

+ Ratalaika Games is likely to also make it past the 200 games mark, which means three publishers on Switch alone will reach the mark, compared to the rest of the systems which has only happened once: Nintendo (3DS) at 249 games.

+ Fun fact: Microsoft/XBOX Studios has a higher 1st party count than Nintendo 3DS ever did, at 279 games!

+ Now that the Top Ten Minimums are sewed up, the Top Five Publisher and Developer Minimums are next.

Publisher side: NDS: 98; Wii: 93, Switch: 87.
Developer side: Wii: 50, Switch: 47, NDS: 32.

The publisher side is almost all but done: eastasiasoft has more than enough games to do it and even give Switch five publishers with 100 games or more in the process. The developer side is more difficult: Benjamin Kistler reaching past 50+ games is pretty much happening, but Sabec getting to 50+ will be more difficult. We'll see where this goes.


[d.] Publisher and Developer Breakdown by Milestones

- Both publishers and developers are number one on all Nintendo platforms with two or more games published and developed, at 727 publishers and 1058 developers in that order.
- The gap between one game and done, to two or more games is 922 publishers and 2420 developers.
- In terms of publishers; Switch has more publishers and developers than the entire Yamaguchi era combined; and also has more publishers and developers than the entire Iwata era combined.

* Storyline: At this point, seeing publishers with two or more games get to 1000 for the first time ever would be a bonus, however; that is more of a long term goal at this point.

- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with five or more games with 284. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with five or more games with 222.

* Storyline: How about more publishers publishing five or more games on Switch than Wii U had publishing period as a story line heading into Aligned Year Six? Maybe 250 developers with five or more, too?

- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with ten or more games with 156. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with ten or more games with 90.

* Storyline: 100 publishers with ten or more games is amazing and it's something you don't see ever on a Nintendo platform. In Aligned Year Six, expect 100 developers with ten or more games on a Nintendo platform for the first time.

- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with 25 or more games with 46. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with 25 or more games with 19 developers.

* Storyline: On the publishing side, I can see 50 publishers with 25 or more games released at aligned year six. On the development side, I expect 25 developers with 25 or more games released at aligned year six.

- Switch is in first place among publishers with 50 or more games with 15. Switch is in second only to Wii's 5 developers with 3 developers.

* Storyline: Thanks to Kistler Studios and Sabec; tying Wii's record of 5 developers is officially doable now. Breaking the record might still be extremely difficult though.

- Switch is tied for first among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with 100 or more games with 4. SNK Corporation on Switch is the only developer among all Nintendo platforms with more than 100 games.

* Storyline: On the publishing side, eastasiasoft has been releasing games regularly on Switch as of late, and the release rate is closer to what Ratalaika Games has been releasing. Breaking the record is doable now and even gaining from Forever Entertainment and Pix Arts are possible. SNK Corporation made history on the development side. If Nintendo can release 14 more games on the Switch, it could join SNK Corporation with 100 or more games on the development side. That one is very tough, but not impossible in terms of first party. Pix Arts is also possible to become the second or third developer to reach a hundred games or more, depending on the releases of their games.

[e.] 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 1290 games or 18.2% 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 FIVE YEARS than the Wii U and PlayStation Portable had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.

* Storyline: There is little for Adventure to prove, other then to maintain the #1 spot over Action, which is usually #1 on six of Nintendo's platforms. They do need 44 games to reach Nintendo 3DS's entire game lineup, and 99 games behind PlayStation's entire North American lineup.

- Action has 1287 games or 18.2% 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. There are more Action games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than the Wii U and Playstation Portable had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.

* Storyline: Basically the same as Adventure. They need 48 games to surpass Nintendo 3DS's LTD games lineup in North America and 103 games short of PlayStation's entire lineup in North America. Action is also closing the gap on Adventure, so the bread and butter genre of the industry is looking to overtake the #1 position overall once again.

- Other has 892 games or 12.6% of the Switch lineup. Other is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #3 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more Other games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than the SNES and XBOX had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.

* Storyline: The Wii/DS effect really showed up this year as Other had a pretty huge increase from last year and leapfrogged over Puzzles, Shooters and even RPG's. The Visual Novel effect helped a lot in this increase. Other is also 60 games away from surpassing GBA's LTD games lineup in North America. Don't be surprised that by the end of aligned year six, Other is over 1000 games and maybe even surpass Wii U's LTD games lineup.

Side Note: I'll breakdown the Other genres and Sports genres by genre in a separate section.

- RPG has 874 games or 12.3% of the Switch lineup. RPGs is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #4 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more RPG games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than the SNES and XBOX had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.

* Storyline: Whelp! The RPG genre lost it's highest ranking ever to the Other genre. Still, the RPG genre has become huge in spite of the rankings decline. RPG is also 77 games away from surpassing GBA's LTD games lineup in North America. While more difficult, I expect RPG's to be over 1000 games as well.

- Puzzle has 775 games or 10.9% of the Switch lineup. Puzzle is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #5 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more Puzzles games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than the SNES had games in it's entire lifetime in Noorth America, period.

* Storyline: Mostly increasing it's numbers further and will become the fifth genre to be lucky (777 games or more) very soon.

- Shooter has 702 games or 9.9% of the Switch lineup. Shooter is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #6 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. There are more Shooter games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than the NES and Sega Genesis had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period. This makes it six genres that have gone into beast mode (666 games or more).

* Storyline: Mostly increasing it's numbers further and is 12 games away from surpassing the entire SNES lineup of games and 75 games away from being the sixth genre to become lucky.

- Simulation has 492 games or 6.9% of the Switch lineup. Simulation is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #7 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. Simulation has more games on Switch in FIVE YEARS than Gameboy Color has games in North America, period.

* Storyline: Simulation is 11 games away from surpassing Gameboy's overall and becoming the seventh genre to reach 500 or more games.

- Racing has 289 games or 4.1% of the Switch lineup. Racing is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #15 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms, being the eighth Switch genre to be in the Top 25. This is more games than the Sega DreamCast and Sega Saturn's LTD game lineups in North America, period.

* Storyline: Racing is now 8 games away from having more games than the entire N64 games lineup in North America. As a long term goal, Racing might become the eighth genre to get into the Top Ten overall genres across all Nintendo platforms.

- Sports has 268 games or 3.8% of the Switch lineup. Sports is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is tied for #17 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. This is more games than the Sega DreamCast and Sega Saturn's LTD game lineups in North America, period.

* Storyline: Sports has defied the odds on Nintendo Switch despite being the one genre that has truly struggled to get actual progress. Sports is 22 games away from a margin of +100 or more against Wii and 29 games away from surpassing N64's entire LTD games lineup.

- Fighting is in last place among Switch genres with 218 games or 3.1% of the Switch lineup. Fighting is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is tied for #25 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. This is more games than the entire 3D0 lineup in North America, period. Fighting also has the largest last place minimum of any Nintendo platform, a +140 over Wii (which had a tie of Fighting/RPG at 78 games).

* Storyline: Fighting has more than proven it's point and it's just increasing it's rank further. The number of new fighting games is dwindling every year and it appears that there will be little progress for the Fighting genre from here on out.

[f.] 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 Visual Novel at 192 games. Visual Novels are #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and is #1 overall on all Nintendo platforms. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" from the rankings, Visual Novel would be #25 among all genres on all Nintendo platforms. Also has more Visual Novels than 3D0's entire North American games lineup.

* Storyline: The Visual Novel genre will be among the genres of games on Nintendo Switch that people will remember, along with the rogue-lite games, the twin-stick shooter genre and puzzle platformer, among others. With the Fighting genre stagnating and Visual Novels rising at a huge rate, I can see more Visual Novels than Fighting games when align year six ends.

- Switch's #2 Others genre is Party at 138 games. Party is #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but is second place behind Visual Novel for Nintendo Switch on all Nintendo platforms. This also makes Switch the first platform in Nintendo history to have over 100 games in two Others genres. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" from the rankings, Party Games would be #29 on all Nintendo platforms, meaning ten genres would be in the Top 30 for the Switch regardless of adding or subtracting the "Others" and "Sports" genres.

* Storyline: Party games are another genre that have benefited from the Switch effect and are more akin to the Wii/DS era than Visual Novels now. Look for the ranks to be increased further.

- Switch's #3 Others genre is Board Game at 109 games. Board Games are #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but is tied for #3 overall on all Nintendo platforms with Music Games for Wii. If you remove "Others" and Sports" genres, the rank is tied with #34 with Music Games for Wii, again.

* Storyline: While a long shot, making a run to be the 11th genre to reach the Top 30 sans Sports and Other genres seems to be something to shoot for.

- Switch's #4 Others genre is Card Game at 102 Games. It is #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and #5 overall on all Nintendo platforms. This means Nintendo Switch now has four "Others" games with more than 100 games. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" genres, the ranking is tied at #36 with GBA Adventure.

* Storyline: Become the fourth "Other" genre to surpass Wii's Music game genre with 110 games, and increasing their ranking further.

- Switch's #5 Others genre is Music Game at 82 games. Music Games are #2 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre; but is #6 overall on all Nintendo platforms. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" genres, the ranking is #46.

* Storyline: Extreme long shot for Music would to become the fifth "Others" genre to surpass 100 games or more and maybe take over the #1 among Music on all Nintendo platforms. Otherwise, it's simply to increase their ranking further.

Other Notables:

- Edutainment has 72 games; #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo platforms, #8 in the "Others" genre on all Nintendo platforms. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" genres, the ranking is tied for #52.
- Switch now has six of the top ten "Others" genre.
- Arcade Compilation has 29 games, #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo platforms.
- Pinball is at 26 games, #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- TV Quiz Show has 24 games, #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo platforms.
- Applications has 23 titles, #2 in the same genre among all Nintendo platforms.
- Gambling game is at 21 games, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
- Mahjong is at 21 games, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
- Art Program is at 17 titles, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
- Pool is at 14 titles, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
- Fitness and Parlor games are at 10 titles. Fitness is #2 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre, while Parlor games are #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.

* Storyline: Edutainment is rising up and might be a long shot to become the fifth or sixth Others genre to reach a 100 games or more, and maybe surpass Music for Wii as well. Applications are close to becoming #1 depending on if Nintendo decides to let more apps in the future. Don't expect Fitness to surpass Wii in anyway, it'll be one of the few records to never be broken outside of various Sports genres.

- Sports #1 genre on Switch is Soccer (World's Football) is 58 games. Obviously it's #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and is #1 overall in Sports on all Nintendo platforms.

* Storyline: Soccer will continue to grow despite the market having lots of choices involved. Expect Soccer to be the first "Sports" genre in the Top 60 when "Sports" and "Others" is removed.

- Sports #2 genre on Switch is Golf at 31 games. Golf is #1 among all Nintendo Platforms of the same genre; and is third place overall in Sports.

* Storyline: Golf is three games away from surpassing Olympics for Wii for second place among sports genres. Difficult, but not impossible.

- Sports #3 genre on Switch is Tennis with 26 games. Tennis is #1 among all Nintendo Platforms of the same genre; and is fifth place overall in Sports.

* Storyline: Tennis is two games away from surpassing Football for SNES. An easier route than Golf.

- Sports #4 genre on Switch is Olympics with 24 games. Olympics is #2 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre and is in sixth in overall Sports.

* Storyline: Olympic genres/Sport Compilations have pretty much stalled for the most part and I don't see much movement this year at this point. Also, four games away from surpassing Football for SNES.

- Sports #5 genre on Switch is a tie of Baseball and Basketball with 15 games apiece. Baseball is currently tied for fifth for Nintendo platforms in the same genre while Basketball is second among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.

* Storyline: Baseball should be in fifth place outright on Switch once MLB The Show 22 comes out, but future movement for both genres seems to have stalled for the moment.

Other Notables:

- Bowling and Fishing have 13 games on Switch. Bowling is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre while Fishing is #2 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Dodgeball has 12 games on Switch and is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Boxing has 11 games on Switch and is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Extreme Sports has 8 games and is #2 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Skiing/Snowboarding has 8 games and is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- American Football has 7 games and is #9 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Vollyball has 6 games and is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Skateboarding has 5 games and is tied for #4 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.

* Storyline: Don't expect much movement on the American Football nor Hockey side; because of EA continuing to have cold feet on Sports games on Switch in general. Also, Skateboarding will finally start to make it's move this year.Also; Switch joins DS and Wii as the only platforms with a Curling game.

Nintendo Switch Sales Fiscal 2022 Report

 

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