Speaking to GameStop’s investors during a recent financial call, CEO Michael Mauler addressed questions about the performance of the Nintendo Switch. Given that year-on-year hardware sales for the Nintendo Switch rose 44.8% in the most recent financial quarter alone, and that Switch sales are the largest driver behind a 28.3% rise in general hardware sales for the video game industry, it would be fair to guess that the console will continue performing strongly into 2018. Mauler clearly believes that this will be the case, citing information that is presently yet to be announced.
When asked by an investor whether he believed that the Switch’s performance, which recently set a record as the highest installed base for a console’s first year in history, would continue to trend upwards as sales figures increased, Mauler replied:
Last year, GameStop’s Senior Director of Merchandising called Breath of the Wild “one of the greatest games of the past decade,” and Mauler’s comments suggest what is clear from the sales figures - that Breath of the Wild played a huge role in the Switch’s success. Of course, that does raise the question of whether the Switch will continue to perform well if its success was reliant on one or two major titles. Mauler, however, certainly doesn’t seem to believe that there is any danger of this.
Fans have already had a glimpse at that 2018 line-up, with the title most likely to dominate being the newly announced Smash Bros. title. But, with other titles such as the much-anticipated Spyro Remastered already announced and rumors circulating of a new Pokemon title in the works for the Switch, Mauler’s expectation that the Nintendo Switch will continue to perform well into the 2018 financial year seems like a safe bet.
