Satoru Shibata,
President of Nintendo Europe, at the GAME store in Wardour Street, London to
launch the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch
Nintendo’s Switch console went on sale Friday in a global
launch seen as key to the Japanese videogame giant reversing flagging sales and
moving past the failure of its last console, the Wii U.
The $299 unit, which works both at home and on the go,
blends the Super Mario maker’s history in the console and handheld device
business with its fledgling mobile gaming strategy, which got a big brand win
after Pokemon Go’s success last summer.
Eager gamers queued up from early Friday morning at stores
across Japan as Switch went on sale around 9:00 am local time.
Kyoto-based Nintendo is aiming to move about two million
Switch consoles in its first month.
Strong demand for the new unit would help Nintendo move on
from poor sales of Wii U, released in 2012.
It marked a disappointing follow-up to the smash hit Wii,
which sold over 100 million units worldwide after its launch a decade ago.
Switch has a removable screen that lets players dock it at
home and also use it on the go like a tablet with detachable controllers —
called Joy-Con — on both sides.
The idea is to give gamers a more immersive experience
with realistic physical sensations matched to what is happening on-screen.
A remote control feature means players can take their eyes
away from the screen to face off.
There are only eight games available for the system
initially, including a Legend of Zelda offering. But there are scores more in
the pipeline, Nintendo has said.
– ‘Immerse myself’ –
“I’ve been a Zelda fan for a long time so I really want to
immerse myself in the universe as soon as possible,” office worker Yoko Kosuge
told AFP.
“I’ve used my day off to come buy it and I’ll try it as
soon as I’m home.”
Kosuge was among the 400-odd gamers queuing up at a major
retailer in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district from early Friday morning.
“This is the first time I’ve bought a Nintendo console,”
said another eager gamer, 25-year-old Yuki Matsuzaki.
“I purchased the PlayStation 4, but the appeal of this
Nintendo unit is the action and storyline in the games.”
An outlet of major electronics retailer Yodobashi Camera
in Kawasaki near Tokyo said it has no extra stock to sell to customers who had
not pre-ordered their units.
In past years, Nintendo has scored hits with traditional
home consoles, such as the Nintendo 64, and portable devices like GameBoy and
the DS handheld.
“Switch is probably one of the most important consoles for
Nintendo in the past decades,” said Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based games industry
consultant.
“It’s the first time where Nintendo basically combines
portable games and home console games into one device.”
But trying to score a win in two different markets has
risks, Toto added.
“Some people could say that Nintendo is trying to kill two
birds with one stone and that it could actually land in the middle and not
really catch any of the target groups,” he said.
Nintendo’s Tokyo-listed stock jumped 3.6 percent Friday.
The company has been under pressure to fix its weak
finances — revenue has been falling for years — as it goes head to head with
console maker rivals Microsoft and Sony, which has racked up huge sales of its
PlayStation 4.
More than 53 million units of the PS4 have been sold
globally since its debut in late 2013.
In a bid to revive its fortunes, Nintendo abandoned a
long-held consoles-only policy and decided to enter the smartphone game market.
Last year, the Donkey Kong maker released “Miitomo” — a
free-to-play and interactive game.
It scored another hit with the Pokemon Go app released in
July, but the impact on profits will be limited as Nintendo did not actually
develop the game.
In December, Nintendo released the Super Mario Run game
for iPhones, which topped download charts and drew tens of millions of downloads.
Hi. I’m Sana ur Rehman Designer of This Blog. I’m CEO/Founder of Pak Zest. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
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