Nintendo France - Other Switch 3rd party titles still to be revealed, amiibo here to stay

The following comes from a Gamekult interview with Philippe Lavoué, managing director of Nintendo France, as translated by Nintendo Everything...

Gamekult: How would you assess the first months of the Switch in France?

Philippe Lavoué, managing director of Nintendo France: We’ve sold 250,000 units on the French market between its launch on March 3rd and last week (E3 2017). This market is in a shortage situation at the moment, but it should improve progressively before the end of the year. We’re targeting an installed base of one million systems in the twelve first months.

G: ...aren’t you afraid that this console might remain a secondary system, especially considering the third-party offers, which are rather discreet as we saw on the E3 floor or during the Nintendo Showcase? (Translator’s note: They may be referring to the Nintendo Spotlight)

PL: Indeed, it’s a challenge, but there are positive signs. Electronic Arts will release FIFA 18 day-one on Switch: it’s a strong message, something we can be proud of since it comes from the game that sells the most in volume in France. The novel, crossover approach with Ubisoft is also very interesting. NBA 2K18 will be on the console, even though it is less visible as we speak, and there are also other projects that I know about but which weren’t officially announced.

G: Let’s talk about a subject that is dear to me: amiibo. We saw a lot of announcements at E3 about these toys. Yet you can notice in retail shelves that a lot of them are discounted. Isn’t there a risk of overproduction?

PL: I have to rectify. We have very healthy stock levels here in France. There is constant replenishment: for instance, the latest Breath of the Wild amiibo, and the upcoming ones for Metroid and Super Mario Odyssey. We don’t see any issue with consumption. Unlike some competing products on the market, the amiibo line is here to stay. Developers are starting to have a firm grasp of them. Take the Splatoon amiibo: you will never see a price drop for them. The same goes for Zelda. No doubt. We needed to break the mold in terms of game-toy association in order to go beyond the collecting aspect.