Nintendo Switch shipments reach 1 million in China since late-2019 launch
- The Nintendo Switch is China’s most popular console, with sales surpassing those of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One combined
- The official Nintendo Switch for China, in partnership with Tencent, still lacks many hit games like Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Nintendo has shipped 1 million Switch consoles in China since it launched the device in the world’s largest video games market at the end of 2019, its Chinese partner Tencent Holdings said on Monday.
The Japanese company launched its Switch console in China in December 2019 in partnership with distributor Tencent, China’s biggest video games and social media company, in a drive to expand the reach of the home-portable device.
The official figures released by Tencent suggest Nintendo has surpassed Microsoft Corp and Sony Corp as the country’s biggest console device seller, according to consultancy Niko Partners.
The 1 million sales figure is bigger than the combined sales of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One over the same period, said Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad.
While early sales were hampered by a limited number of available games and the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in China, they were later boosted by the August release of popular home exercise game Ring Fit Adventure in the country.
A Tencent spokesman called the sales of the 2,099 yuan (US$323) units “a good start”, and said “the games published on Nintendo Switch (China-Exclusive Version) have been well received by the market.”