Six of the top 10 best-selling games on Amazon in August were Nintendo Switch titles, according to a new report, an indication that the popularity of the smash hit console lives on more than two years after its release.
The analysis from Thinknum Alternative Data found that in addition to Nintendo’s domination of the game charts, it also had the top-selling accessory: A Nintendo Switch screen protector.
These figures fit with last month’s data from The NPD Group, which also reported that six of the top 10 best-selling games were Nintendo Switch exclusives. Additionally, Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console in July, per NPD.
The six Nintendo Switch titles at the top of the charts in Thinknum’s analysis were: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Maker 2, Fire Emblem: Three Houses and Legend of Zelda Link’s Awakening
The only Xbox game in the top 10 was its version of Madden 20. Two PlayStation games made the top 10 — Madden 20 and Marvel’s Spiderman — as did Minecraft for PC.
NPD reported that gaming spending fell 4 percent year-over-year in July to $6.4 billion. A 22 percent decline in hardware spending dragged down the industry as a whole, canceling out a 34 percent year-over-year spike in spending on software in July. Nintendo is the only company to year-over-year hardware growth, thanks to the success of the Switch.
The numbers re-enforce arguments that it’s time for Microsoft and Sony to refresh their console lineups. Microsoft’s gaming division was dragged down last quarter by a 48 percent year-over-year decline in Xbox hardware sales.
But it looks like help is on the way soon. At the big E3 gaming conference in June, Microsoft announced plans for a next-generation console, Project Scarlett, to be released in the 2020 holiday season. The PlayStation 5, Sony’s next gaming console, is also expected to come out in late 2020.
Nintendo Switch stormed out of the gate as one of the fastest-selling gaming consoles of all time. While growth has slowed, sales continue to rise at a decent rate.
Switch sales rose to 2.13 million units in the June quarter, up more than 13 percent from the same period a year ago. With the latest results, nearly 37 million Switch consoles have sold since the March 2017 release.
Looking to take advantage of the consistent sales of Switch, Nintendo in July unveiled the Switch Lite, a smaller and cheaper version of the device. Switch Lite is meant solely for handheld play, as opposed to the larger Switch that lets gamers connect to a TV. It’s $100 cheaper than the original Switch, retailing at $199.99, and will be released later this month.
