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Nintendo Switch Aligned Year Six Report
Updated: 11/04/2023
[0.] Introduction and Conclusion
"Can Nintendo Not Bury Their Curation Any Further?! Yes, Yes They Can!" - Me, after writing all the data for this report.
Well, the console cycle for Nintendo Switch is over, it's done. The Nintendo Switch made it through six years and went from a handful of games and no hope to the third highest selling piece of hardware of all time, and among the top five in selling software and probably is the third highest all time when download only video games are counted in the mix. Even from a quality prespective, the system was light years ahead of every Nintendo platform in history. The curation was amazing, and it made compiling the data a total nightmare, but it was worth it for the comparisons I was able to make. The Nintendo Switch is only one month away from having the largest console cycle in Nintendo history (SNES), and five months away from surpassing Nintendo DS for the longest system cycle in Nintendo history. Also, all hardware sales were achieved with bundles and no permanent price cut! That has never happened in video gaming history! The secret to that is one that I should have known right from the start since I basically explained it when I went over my reason for buying the Nintendo Switch in the first place: I no longer need two seperate gaming systems (console and portable) which would cost me $500 minimum to get my gaming fix, and I'm offered an extra $250 value in having the console and portable combined into a console that can be played without a television, flimsy stand be darned. $750 for $300! Imagine getting a system where all three modes are offered at $100 per mode (about $120 if it's OLED), which is equal to what would be a massive price cut if the modes were separate. This is why the price cut never came and will never come, because the price per mode gave Nintendo all the excuses they need to avoid the price cut to the machine. Nintendo doesn't like cutting the price of hardware, they would rather release bundles with games. Heck, they keep selling Revision 0 with the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe bundle every holiday season for the past three years or so.
A bit of a backstory: When the Nintendo Switch started back in it's first aligned year, I was noticing how a number of Youtubers were claiming that the Nintendo Switch had too many games, at a time when the Nintendo Switch only had around 170-200 games in eight months! Knowing the principle of "the plural for anecdote is not data", this inspired me to bring back the data compilation of game release lists for North America that I was doing back during the Wii/DS era. Even back then, I notice something was going on that would be a harbinger of things to come in later years, especially in the last six months. The first couple of months at the beginning of the run were similar to the 3DS run, up until the end of June 2017: March was the highest month due to the launch, but was below Wii and Wiiu; although those two systems were released in November during the holiday season (Switch was higher than 3DS in it's first 30 days and the highest for a non-holiday launch), where November is often a much bigger month than any other month outside of October. April, May and June had only 11-12 games per month, which turned out to be the slowest months ever on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch has never had a month with nine games or less. Wii didn't have a month with nine games or less until December of 2011, one month into Aligned Year Six. Still, the feeling was that the summer time would be a drought and the first July of Switch's run would see nine games or less. It didn't happen. In fact, July 2017 had 21 games, with August having 27 games. Nintendo had turned the corner when it came to it's library and by the end of the first year, Switch was closing in on peak Nintendo DS monthly releases. May 2018 was another milestone, the first month over 100 games for a Nintendo system ever. August 2018 was the beginning of a streak of 100 or more games a month that lasted until the end of December 2019.
Then the second streak began in January 2020 and never looked back. In fact, the curation got so silly that 180 games a month is the average. April 2022 got over 200 games, September had almost 230 games that is currently the biggest month ever for a Nintendo platform. October has three straight months of 200 games or more! 2021 had a minimum of 120 games per month, 2022 had 123 games per month. Nintendo DS at it's peak had 81 games and they got over 80 games one time in their entire run. Switch has had 80 or more games every month since April of 2018. 150 games a month is below average now. This is a huge headache for data compiling. To give everyone an idea of how messy and how tedious data compiling goes, here's the routine I have for the Nintendo Switch North American Gamelist every single week:
- Every Friday of every week (except for this week where I was editing and finishing the report since the last day was on a Thursday), I typically start by doing what is known as a "Tentative Gamelist" for the next week, starting from Sunday to Saturday of each given week. The data is compiled for the week after and then games are added or subtracted from there. Back in the late 2000's when I was working on Gamecube, Wii and Nintendo DS gamelists, I typically do a full month and then usually subtract the games that have been delayed and update accordingly. With Nintendo Switch, doing it every week is a chore even now due to the vast number of games released every week. In the past, 34 games in a MONTH was a PEAK for the Wii U, in a non-launch month. Nowadays, 34 games a WEEK is considered just above the overall average and below average for this calander year and aligned year. There are few subtractions, but a lot more additions.
- While all seven days can have shadow drops literally happen at anytime, every Thursday is the worst time for them. I get an average of 6-9 shadow drops on average on that day alone in 2022 every single week. One week I had started with 16 games and ended the week with 30 games easily. That's a slow week. The slowest week in the aligned year six is 19 games during the same week Golden Week was happening in Japan in May, on the same week Nintendo released it's finances the year end, and also 19 games on the last week of calendar year 2022. My definition of the term "Shadow Drop" is a little different than most as my definition of it is that it's announced and released at the same time. Many games that are defined as "shadow drops" by most people were clearly announced for Switch months and years in advance, but their release date are confirmed for the same day as a release. I realize this reduces the numbers, but as I have seen before, there is still lots of games that fit that description.
- Every week, I often see an average of two to five new publishers and seven to 20 new developers debuting on the Switch. I am also seeing three publishers and two to seven developers joining the 2+ games department.
Limitations:
- The most obvious one: These lists addressed the number of games in any video game system library. This is not designed for judging the quality of said lineup due to "quality is the eye of the beholder" and it's not designed to address whatever "console war" stuff from fanboys. To anyone who uses edge cases to point out how bad Switch's curation is now is ultimately fruitless. The data more than supports your claim, no need to bring up ancedotes. Bundles and DLC are not counted. Yes, it's a pain to weed out, but for data compilation, it was worth it.
- More publishers and developers for each generation is always going to be a factor in determining a system's library. The house rules for each system maker is the major key in determining the amount of games for each system. A commercially successful system also helps a lot. Nintendo Switch's house rules for curation are much more lienent than the NES or even Wii U for example.
Here are the links for other reports:
Report
of Aligned Year 3
Report
of Aligned Year 4
Report
of Aligned Year 5
Nintendo
Switch Sales Report
Aligned
Year Seven will be the most interesting year in the Nintendo Switch's
history. Nintendo has never had a system go past this point without
releasing a successor. There is a good chance that the Switch
successor doesn't come out until the middle of 2024 and if that comes
to fruition, the Nintendo Switch could have the second longest system
cycle in video gaming history, with only the XBOX 360 having a longer
cycle at eight years! While I wouldn't hold my breath on that
happening since Nintendo is notorious for wanting to release a
successor before the console goes past six years (and remember, N64
was delayed twice, which explains the one month overrun the SNES
ultimately had). Hardware and software sales will slow down simply
because they have to, the Nintendo Switch cannot continue to go up
year over year. Software releases on the other hand, might continue
increasing year over year: As of this writing and as some might
notice in the report: The first two months of 2023 saw an increase of
37 games and February 2023 saw the largest winter season month of all
time at 196 games. March's releases as of this writing are a minimum
of 122, and since there is a factor of two in determining the
releases for March, don't be surprised when April 1st arrives and
this report gets updated with the full fiscal results (since there is
still 28 days left in the final quarter), that we might see a
projected 244 games in March of 2023. (April
2023 Gregory Weagle Says:
The
final result was 215 games, basically bookending a fiscal year that
started with 200+ games in April 2022, have two 200+ games in
September and October of 2022 each and end with 200+ games in March
2023. Plus, almost got to 200 games twice more (November 2022 was 195
and Feburary 2023 had 196, a 28 day month no less) within that fiscal
year. Oh, and April 2023's projected to be at least 186 games now.)
That's how wild the curation has been and it looks like it's getting
even more wild. But
enough of me having a headache, let's begin the rundown of Aligned
Year Six and the story lines for Aligned Year Seven.
[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
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, 2023, Inclusive)
-
Overall,
the Nintendo Switch reached 9254 games as of March 2nd, 2023
inclusive, 2191 days total. Out of those figures, 9063 games were
published by third party publishers, and 9155 games were developed by
third party developers.
- On average 1542 games were released per
year, up from 1417 games per year (+125 games); more on average than
the combined Gamecube/Gameboy Advance lineup in North America. Margin
is down by 25 games compared to last year.
- 4.2 games per day
were released, 29.6 games per week, 128.5 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 229 in
September of 2022.
- The lowest number of releases in one week is
2 which happened six times, all in 2017: April 22nd, May 6th, May
20th, June 3rd, June 10th, July 1st.
- The highest number of
releases in one week is 75 which happened the week ending on October
30th, 2021. This is only six less games than the Nintendo DS's peak
month of 81 games.
- The highest number of releases in one day was
38 on Thursday, April 21st, 2022. That is two more games than the
peak month of Nintendo 3DS, nine more than Switch's first 30 day
launch numbers and three games higher than Gameboy's first aligned
year!
- Nintendo Switch has the most games in their first align
year when compared to all closed ecosystem platforms, at 470 games.
PlayStation 5 has 420 games and XBOX Series has 401 games. All three
generation nine systems broke their personal bests I should point
out.
- Nintendo Switch has the most games in their second align
year when compared to all closed ecosystem platforms, at 1321 games
for that aligned year and 1791 games overall! PlayStation 5 has 891
games for their aligned year and 1311 games overall. XBOX Series has
592 games in the aligned year and 993 games overall. All three
generation nine systems broke their personal bests I should point
out.
Overall Peak Game Releases by Day:
Sunday:
2
(Week 130, 232, 245, 284)
Monday:
26
(Week 244)
Tuesday:
29
(Week 82)
Wednesday:
20
(Week
311)
Thursday:
38
(Week 269)
Friday:
21
(Week
298)
Saturday:
6
(Week 223)
- Number of weeks where all days had at least one game released: 18 (Week 109, 130, 183, 192, 204, 208, 210, 214, 223, 228, 230, 239, 245, 253, 264, 284, 289, 293).
[ii.] By Calendar Year 2022 (January 1st-December 31st, Inclusive)
-
In Calendar Year 2022; Nintendo Switch had 2118 games released.
-
This is +136 more games compared to 2021's 1982 games.
- 5.8 games
per day were released, 40.7 games per week, 176.5 games per month.
-
This is the second straight calendar year where every single month
had 120 or more games released.
- May 2022 and December 2022 were
the slowest months of calendar year with 123 games for May 2022 and
127 games in December 2022. Otherwise, every month surpass at least
160 games.
- This is the first time Nintendo Switch had over 200
games more than once in a Calendar Year, with three months: April
2022 at 205 games, September 2022 at 229 games and October 2022 at
216 games.
- This surpasses Nintendo DS (2004-2016), Wii
(2006-2020), PS2 (2000-2012) and XBOX 360 (2005-2018) LTD game
releases in North America in just one year.
- 2022 Breakdown By Month: January- 172, February- 161, March- 168, April - 205, May- 123, June- 184, July- 170, August- 168, September- 229, October- 216, November- 195, December- 127.
Minimum: 123, Maximum: 229, Average: 177.
- 2021 Breakdown: 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- 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- 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- 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 Six (March 3rd, 2022- March 2nd, 2023 inclusive)
-
Aligned Year Six had 2167 games released on Switch.
- 2020 games
came out in Aligned Year Five; an increase of 147; the lowest margin
increase on the platform.
- 5.9 games per day were released, 41.6
games per week, 180.6 games per month.
- All 12 months had at
least 120 games released, and only December 2022 and May 2022 had
less than 160 games in a month.
- This is the first time a
Nintendo system ever had the most games in an aligned year happen in
Year Six or further, joining PlayStation Portable and XBOX 360 as the
only known systems to achieve this feat. (PlayStation
4 and XBOX One still have not been fully accounted for in the data
compiling yet.)
-
Switch managed to surpass the entire Nintendo DS (2004-2016) LTD in
terms of game releases in North America in just 349 days, same pace
as the Calendar Year 2022.
- Switch in Aligned Year Six and beyond
surpassed all 12 Nintendo platforms combined (2040 games) by 127
games.
- Switch joins WiiU, Gamecube and Virtual Boy as the only
systems with more games in their aligned year at it's peak than
calendar year, at +49 games.
- Aligned Year Six Breakdown By Month: March 2022- 168, April- 205, May- 123, June- 184, July- 170, August- 168, September- 229, October- 216, November- 195, December- 127, January 2023- 174, February- 196.
Minimum: 123, Maximum: 229, Average: 180.
-
Aligned Year Five Breakdown:
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.
- Aligned Year Four Breakdown: 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.
- Aligned Year Three Breakdown: 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.
- Aligned Year Two Breakdown: 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.
- Aligned Year One Breakdown: 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 2022 (April 1st, 2022-March 31st, 2023, 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.
Fiscal
Year 2022:
2202 games.
-
This means 6.0 games a day, 42.2 games a week, 183.5 games a month.
-
This means a +190 increase from Fiscal Year 2021, and a higher margin
then between Fiscal Year 2018/2019.
- This means fiscal year
numbers surpass numbers of the Nintendo DS's North America LTD
release numbers by +154 games.
[v.]
ESRB Breakdown
- Switch has roughly 899 M-Rated games on Switch; an average of 149.8 M-rated games a year and there were 229 M-Rated games this year alone. This is more than all 12 platforms sans Switch combined overall and this year alone. It is within 5-10 games below the average per year of combined all 12 platforms sans Switch. Considering that there are more M-Rated games on Switch in SIX YEARS than XBOX, SNES, Sega Genesis, 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 9.7%) and well ahead of Gameboy Color.
*Notice:
I will no longer be counting any ESRB breakdowns weaker than an M
rating due to massive changes on Nintendo's own website which now
includes DLC content as part of the rating.
[vi.]
Storylines For Aligned Year Seven:
- By Life To Date:
* Nintendo Switch achieved the pipe dream of getting over 9000 games within a six 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 six 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 will happen within six months or so as there are only 746 games needed.
* Once 10,000 games is surpassed, 10,381 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. Might happen within seven months or so (1127 games needed). Don't get too attached to this milestone since a Switch successor would probably render this milestone meaningless.
- By Aligned Year Seven, Fiscal Year 2023 and 2023 Calendar Year:
* The only thing left that I can think of is setting up the first Nintendo platform to have a Aligned Year Seven have the most games, but that would be foolish now. Is it?!
- ESRB Breakdown:
* A long term goal would be getting 1000 M-rated games on the Switch. At the current pace, they might achieve it within six to eight months depending on the rate. Maybe have more M-rated games than Wii U, Playstation Vita and Gameboy Advance have games, period?
- Other Notables:
*
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% for the first five
years. NES percentage is 57.6% in the first five years, in case
anyone is keeping track, Nintendo DS is 59.5%, Gameboy is 70.3%,
Nintendo 3DS is 71.2%, and Switch is currently at 76.6%.
[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.
-1935 publishers have published at one game on Nintendo Switch, 287 new publishers debuted new games this year (down 41 publishers from last year) and an average of 322.5 new publishers per year. (down by 7.5 publishers.) The average margins are higher than the Wii U had in it's lifetime in terms of publisher debuts.
- The average number of games per publisher is 4.78; the third lowest in Nintendo history. The highest is GBA with 14.39 games per publisher.
- 4260 developers have developed at least one game on Nintendo Switch, 782 new developers debuted new games this year (down 41 developers from last year) and an average of 710 new developers per year, an increase of 14 developers on average.
- The average number of games per developer is 2.17; 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 2.20; fourth lowest to Wiiu's 1.45, 3DS's 1.93 and Gameboy's 2.13.
* Storylines for Aligned Year Seven:
- Publishers: If Switch were to maintain the number of new publishers releasing games, maybe have an increase: Switch will make a run for 2000 publishers for the Switch alone sometime before Aligned Year Eight. 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 might surpass 5000 developers,
and will make a run for 4500 developers.
[c.]
Publisher & Developer Breakdown
-
Hamster is the number one publisher for Switch at 357 games; the
highest total regardless of being a first or third party publisher
among all Nintendo platforms.
- Ratalaika Games has 216 games in second place, becoming the second biggest third party publisher on a Nintendo platform in 3rd place.
- Nintendo has 191 games in third place, meaning the gap is a -166; 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 fifth place overall in terms of publishing on all platforms.
- Ultimate Games is in fourth place at 188 games and is sixth place among all Nintendo platforms.
- eastasiasoft is in fifth place at 142 games and is tenth place among all Nintendo platforms. eastasiasoft easily sets the record for the highest Top 5 Publishing minimum as well.
- Rounding out the Top 10 after that are QuByte Interactive at 104 games, Forever Entertainment at 93 games, Pix Arts at 92 games, Sega at 89 and QubicGames at 83 games.
- Top Ten Publishing Minimum is at 83 games, which is the highest minimum for any Nintendo platform in history.
- SNK Corporation is the #1 developer for Switch at 109 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 99 games. This is the second highest total for a developer first or third party ever and highest for first party. This means a gap of -10 games.
- Pix Arts is in third place with 91 games, becoming the second biggest third party developer and have tied for the third highest total among all Nintendo platforms.
- Benjamin Kistler is in fourth place at 58 games, ninth overall among all Nintendo platforms.
- Rounding out the Top Ten after that are Boombit Games at 52 games, Sabec at 49 games, Taito at 48 games, KairoSoft and Namco at 47 games, and Konami at 45 games.
- Top Ten Developing Minimum is at 45; which is now a new Nintendo record. Top Five Developing Minimum is at 52 games, a new record as well.
* Storylines for Aligned Year Seven:
+ 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)
+ One year later, Nintendo for the Switch reached 191 games, four games short of surpassing Wii U for overall output and that mark will be surpassed by July at the latest. So far, in Aligned Year Six; Nintendo has published 39 games on the overrun. Only Nintendo DS and 3DS have bigger outputs after year five. It's unlikely Switch will surpass 3DS in overall output.
+ Nintendo and Ultimate Games are likely to also make it past the 200 games mark, which means four 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 on XBOX 360 had a higher 1st party count than Nintendo 3DS ever did, at 279 games! Sony PlayStation 3 had a higher count at 302 games.
+ How about this as a goal, a Top 10 Publishing Minimum reaching 100 games. Reaching 90 minimum is more than doable with Red Deer Games making a huge march and Sega already at 89 games.
[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 850
publishers and 1343 developers in that order.
- The gap between
one game and done, to two or more games is 1085 publishers (56.1%)
and 2917 developers (68.5%).
- In terms of publishers; Switch has
more publishers with two or more games than all Nintendo systems sans
Switch 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. Developers with two or more combining with all other systems is an interesting goal to see as well. (1540 developers).
- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with five or more games with 356 which is more than Wii U had one or more. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with five or more games with 296.
* Storyline: Next up for Nintendo Switch is getting developers with five or more games over the 300 mark.
- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with ten or more games with 192. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with ten or more games with 124.
* Storyline: Nintendo Switch's next goal is getting over 200 publishers with five or more and over 150 developers with the same.
- Switch is #1 among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with 25 or more games with 70. Switch is #1 among developers on all Nintendo platforms with 25 or more games with 28 developers.
* Storyline: I would love to see 75-100 publishers with 25 or more games, but that's a long shot. Developers with 30-50 developers with the same is also a long shot.
- Switch is in first place among publishers with 50 or more games with 25. Switch is tied for first only to Wii with 5 developers.
* Storyline: Thanks to Kistler Studios and Boombit Games; tying Wii's record of 5 developers is done. Breaking the record is now doable with Taito, Namco and Sabec all within striking distance. My dice roll thinks Namco will pull it off first.
- Switch is tied for first among publishers on all Nintendo platforms with 100 or more games with 6. SNK Corporation on Switch is the only developer among all Nintendo platforms with more than 100 games.
*
Storyline:
SNK
Corporation made history on the development side. If Nintendo can
release one more games on the Switch, it could join SNK Corporation
with 100 or more games on the development side. Zelda: Tears of The
Kingdom assures this feat. 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 1641 games or 17.7% 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 SIX YEARS than the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation 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 149 games to reach Wii and PS2 entire game lineup.
- Action has 1622 games or 17.5% 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 SIX YEARS than the Nintendo 3DS and Playstation had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.
* Storyline: Basically the same as Adventure. They need 168 games short of Wii and PlayStation 2'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 1209 games or 13.1% 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 SIX YEARS than the PlayStation Vita and WiiU 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 26 games away from surpassing PlayStation Portable's LTD games lineup in North America. Don't be surprised that by the end of aligned year seven, Other surpasses Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation.
Side Note: I'll breakdown the Other genres and Sports genres by genre in a separate section.
- Puzzle has 1103 games or 11.9% of the Switch lineup. Puzzle is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #4 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms and #3 when Others and Sports are separated. There are more Puzzles games on Switch in SIX YEARS than the WiiU and PlayStation Vita had games in it's entire lifetime in North America, period.
* Storyline: Puzzle is now 132 games away from PlayStation Portable's LTD.
- RPG has 1084 games or 11.7% of the Switch lineup. RPGs is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #5 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms, #4 when Sports and Others are separated. There are more RPG games on Switch in SIX YEARS than the WIiU and PlayStation Vita 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 and Puzzle genres. Still, the RPG genre has become huge in spite of the rankings decline. RPG is also 151 games away from surpassing PlayStation Portable's LTD games lineup in North America.
-
Shooter has 910 games or 9.8% 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, #5 when Sports and Others are
separated. There are more Shooter games on Switch in SIX YEARS than
the XBOX and SNES had games in it's entire lifetime in North America,
period.
*
Storyline:
Mostly
increasing it's numbers further and is 41 games away from surpassing
the entire GBA lineup of games and 90 games away from being the sixth
genre to surpass 1000 games.
- Simulation has 705 games or 7.6% 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, #6 when Sports and Others are separated. Simulation has more games on Switch in SIX YEARS than Sega Genesis, NES and Gamecube has games in North America, period.
* Storyline: Simulation is nine games away from surpassing SNES's overall and 72 games away from the seventh genre to become lucky.
- Racing has 383 games or 4.1% of the Switch lineup. Racing is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is #8 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms, #7 when Sports and Others are separated. This is more games than the Nintendo 64's LTD game lineups in North America, period.
* Storyline: Now that Switch have eight straight rankings from #1-#8, Racing it just expanding it's numbers further and reach 400 games.
- Sports has 332 games or 3.6% of the Switch lineup. Sports is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is tied for #11 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms. This is more games than the Nintendo 64'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 17 games away from reaching the Top 10, and 28 games away from being Switch straight genre #9.
- Fighting is in last place among Switch genres with 265 games or 2.9% of the Switch lineup. Fighting is #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre; but is tied for #20 in overall genres among all Nintendo platforms, and #17 when Sports and Other are separate. This is more games than the entire Sega Saturn and Sega Dreamcast lineup in North America, period. Fighting also has the largest last place minimum of any Nintendo platform, a +187 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 294 games. Visual Novels
are #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and is #1 overall
on all Nintendo platforms of the Others. If you remove "Others"
and "Sports" from the rankings, Visual Novel would be #12
among all genres on all Nintendo platforms. Also has more Visual
Novels than Sega Dreamcast and Sega Saturn's entire North American
games lineup. Visual Novels now has more games than Fighting
games.
*
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.
Visual Novels need just three more games to reach Nintendo 64's
LTD.
- Switch's #2 Others genre is Party at 175 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 at least two Others genres. If you
remove "Others" and "Sports" from the rankings,
Party Games would be #27 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 Card Game at 139 Games. It is #1 on all
Nintendo platforms of the same genre and #3 overall on all Nintendo
platforms. If you remove "Others" and "Sports"
genres, the ranking is at #30.
*
Storyline:
Increasing
their ranking further, that is all.
- Switch's #4 Others genre
is Board Game at 130 games. Board Games are #1 on all Nintendo
platforms of the same genre; #4 overall on all Nintendo platforms
with Music Games for Wii. If you remove "Others" and
Sports" genres, the rank is #31.
*
Storyline:
While
a long shot, making a run to be the 12th genre to reach the Top 30
sans Sports and Other genres seems to be something to shoot for.
- Switch's #5 Others genere Edutainment has 103 games; #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo platforms, #5 in the "Others" genre on all Nintendo platforms. If you remove "Others" and "Sports" genres, the ranking is now at #37.
*
Storyline:
Has a chance to surpass Wii Music and become the fifth Others
genre.
- Switch's #6 Others genre is Music Game at 100 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 #40. Switch now has six
of the top ten "Others" genre.
*
Storyline:
There
is a good chance Music
would to become the sixth Others genre to surpass Wii Music.
Otherwise, it's simply to increase their ranking further.
Other
Notables:
-
Arcade Compilation has 42 games, #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo
platforms.
- Art Program is at 32 titles, #1 among all Nintendo
platforms in the same genre.
- Pinball is at 32 games, #1 among
all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- TV Quiz Show has 32
games, #1 in the same genre on all Nintendo platforms.
-
Applications has 27 titles, tied for first with Nintendo DS in the
same genre among all Nintendo platforms.
- Mahjong is at 27 games,
#1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
- Gambling game
is at 24 games, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre.
-
Pool is at 20 titles, #1 among all Nintendo platforms in the same
genre.
- Fitness is at 16 games while Parlor games are at 14
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:
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 71 games.
Obviously it's #1 on all Nintendo platforms of the same genre and is
#1 overall in Sports on all Nintendo platforms. If you separate
Others and Sports, Soccer is now #54.
*
Storyline:
Soccer will continue to grow despite the market having lots of
choices involved.
- Sports #2 genre on Switch is Golf at 40
games. Golf is #1 among all Nintendo Platforms of the same genre; and
is second overall in Sports.
*
Storyline:
Expect a slow increase of numbers and nothing else.
-
Sports #3 genre on Switch is Olympics with 31 games. Olympics is #2
among all Nintendo platforms in the same genre and is in fourth 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, two
games away from surpassing Olympics for Wii.
- Sports #4 genre
on Switch is Tennis with 28 games. Tennis is #1 among all Nintendo
Platforms of the same genre; and is fifth place overall in Sports.
*
Storyline:
Tennis
is five games away from surpassing Olympics for Wii.
- Sports
#5 genre on Switch is Baseball with 19 games. Baseball is currently
tied for 3rd place for Nintendo platforms in the same genre and tenth
place overall in Sports.
*
Storyline:
Baseball should be tied for ninth place outright on Switch once MLB
The Show 23 comes out, but future movement for both genres seems to
have stalled for the moment.
Other
Notables:
-
Fishing has 17 games on Switch. It's #1 among all Nintendo platforms
of the same genre.
- Basketball has 16 games on Switch. It's #2
among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
-
Bowling has 15 games on Switch. Bowling is #1 among all Nintendo
platforms of the same genre.
- Boxing has 14 games on Switch and
is #1 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Dodgeball
and Extreme Sports has 13 games each on Switch and both are #1 among
all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
- Skiing/Snowboarding
and Volleyball has 10 games and both are #1 among all Nintendo
platforms of the same genre.
- American Football has 8 games and
is tied for #7 among all Nintendo platforms of the same genre.
-
Skateboarding has 6 games and is tied for #3 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. The sports fishing genre also has an outside chance of
surpassing 20 games and might get a top ten overall in Sports among
all Nintendo platforms. Basketball is a bigger longshot as well.