Former Nintendo President Admits That Switch Was a “Make or Break” Product That “Luckily” Turned Out to Be a Hit

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The Nintendo Switch has proven to be one of the world’s best-selling consoles, but if things had turned out differently, Nintendo might have been on its way out. During Twitch’s recent New York Gaming Awards stream (via Nintendo Life), former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé was asked what his biggest achievement was at the gaming giant and revealed that it was helping the company transition from the disastrous Wii U generation to the Switch. According to Reggie, the hybrid console was regarded as a “make and break” product that, fortunately, turned out to be a great success and continues to sell like hot cakes years after its release.

“You know, Nintendo has done so many innovations in the space… I think what Nintendo did with the Switch, after the poor performance of Wii U, I think to me and what I was part of, that’s my lasting memory,” Reggie said. “People forget, when the Wii U launched, the performance over that life cycle was so poor, I mean it was the worst-selling platform, I think maybe Virtual Boy was a little bit worse, but Wii U underperformed pretty radically in the marketplace.”

“And when your only business is video games that next had to be successful and the Switch continues to be a dynamic platform – selling exceptionally well. And the ability for the company to come up with the concept, to bring it to life, to bring it to the marketplace, to have not only great first-party content but great third party and independent developer content – that is going to be something I will always be proud of.”

“Along with so many of the other things I was part of, but the Switch really was a make or break product for the company and luckily it was a hit.”

As Nintendo points out on its investors site, the Nintendo Switch has managed to sell an impressive 68.30 million units since its release in 2017. In contrast, the Wii U only sold 13.56 million units, while the original Wii remains king with 101.63 million units sold. Time will tell whether the Switch can beat or come close to that.

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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