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Nintendo discusses Switch and Switch Lite sales per region, the impact of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and its player demographics

Series fans and women are flocking to Animal Crossing
by rawmeatcowboy
07 May 2020
GN Version 5.0

Nintendo has shared a bit more insight into some of their fiscal results report that came out last night. In the blurbs below, you can read up on Switch sales around the world, as well as the impact that Animal Crossing: New Horizons made, and the people who are playing it.

Previously, we have addressed sell-in, or the number of sales from Nintendo to retailers, but we would like to turn the discussion to sell-through, which is the number of sales made from retailers to consumers. This graph shows quarterly sell-through for the Nintendo Switch family. In all major regions, sell-through from January through March was higher than that of the same period in the previous fiscal year. In the Japanese market, the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons drove hardware sales greatly, with console sell-through for the week of release reaching levels above weekly sell-through during the holiday season.

• Annual sell-through of the Nintendo Switch family in Japan during this fiscal year increased 33% over the previous fiscal year, with sell-through of 5.06 million units. The North American market saw a 20% rise over the previous fiscal year, to 7.67
million units. The European market saw a 19% rise over the previous fiscal year, to 5.37 million units.

• In the fourth quarter, the proportion of sell-through for Nintendo Switch Lite to the entire Nintendo Switch family was higher than that of sell-in. This is because inventories for Nintendo Switch Lite, which was just launched last September, were relatively plentiful at the start of the new year in markets outside of Japan, and sell-through for the system grew significantly together with that of the flagship Nintendo Switch both before and after the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

Combined sell-through of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, released on March 20, exceeded 13 million units in the first six weeks for the three regions of Japan, the US, and Europe, making it the fastest-starting title for Nintendo Switch. Moreover,
sell-through for Animal Crossing: New Horizons has quickly exceeded the lifetime sell-through for the Nintendo 3DS entry Animal Crossing: New Leaf, making it the title with the highest sell-through in the Animal Crossing series. Not only have sales of the physical version exceeded our expectations, but demand for the digital version is also high, leading to a digital sales ratio never before seen in Nintendo Switch titles.

• In terms of consumer demographics, we are seeing a high percentage of players in their 20s and 30s who have likely played past entries in the Animal Crossing series, and a high overall percentage of female players, at over 40%. Among this group,
many appear to have newly purchased a console in the Nintendo Switch family.

[Link]