Nintendo Switch Stays Dominant for Hardware & Software Sales in April

According to NPD Data, the Nintendo Switch stays at the top of the hardware sales ladder for April.  The second month in a row for Nintendo’s new console.  According to the data that tracks North American hardware and software sales, Nintendo sold 280,000 Switch consoles and another 70,000 3DS handhelds.  Nintendo themselves accounted for about half of all hardware sales across the industry.

Despite being hard to find, the Nintendo Switch is obviously being purchased at rapid clip compared to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 offerings.  A big part of that probably has to do with the software being released for the console.  So far, Nintendo has unleashed two big titles for the system.  First in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild — which topped NPD charts last month.  Now in April, they released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which was the top seller for this month.  This is quite impressive for a game that was out all of a couple of days before the reporting period ended.

Nintendo will look to continue the momentum through the summer, but they’ll need to really focus on getting supply in stores.  The console is still sold out when trying to purchase at online retailers, and we’ve yet to actually see one on a physical store shelf.  Nintendo has played this game to perfection before.  The Nintendo Wii was incredibly hard to find for many, many months following its release.  That console was one of Nintendo’s most popular ever.  Even then consumers wondered if Nintendo was tapering off supply of the console to keep demand for the hardware high.

Regardless, games and the ability to purchase the console will be the top things moving the needle this summer.  They have a couple more big ones on the way with Splatoon 2 on the way, and some attention will be paid to ARMS, with a presentation dedicated to game slated for May 17th.