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Nintendo discusses the Switch's strong software attach rate as compared to previous platforms

by rawmeatcowboy
26 April 2019
GN Version 5.0

Coming from Nintendo's financial briefing...

I’d now like to address the Nintendo Switch business from a slightly different angle. One conventional metric used in the dedicated platform business is the tie ratio, or the attach rate of software per unit of hardware. This is calculated by dividing the number of software units sold by the number of hardware units sold. However, with the rise in digital sales, we are witnessing the rapid sales growth of indie titles at a wide range of price points, and add-on content sales that cannot be counted with the number of software units sold. As a result, software attach rate calculated using conventional methods no longer adequately reflects the actual state of our business.

Instead, we would like to look at "sales per hardware unit," which is the overall sales for the platform divided by sales of the hardware itself. Note that this is calculated based on sales recognized by the company, and it differs from individual consumer spending.

Japan/The Americas/Europe cumulative total sales at the end of each fiscal year, adjusted for exchange rates based on the
average rate for the fiscal year ended March 2019, divided by console sell -in numbers.

This graph shows the sales trends per Nintendo Switch system for each fiscal year. It is based on the total numbers at the end of the fiscal year for each of the three major regions, adjusted to account for differing exchange rates. For comparison, sales per Wii system are shown in gray. The figures on the slide include hardware and software sales, sales of accessories like Joy-Con controllers and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers, sales of titles from other software publishers physically manufactured by Nintendo on commission, add-on content sold digitally, and Nintendo Switch Online revenue.

A straightforward comparison is difficult due to the original prices and bundle specifications of Nintendo Switch and Wii hardware being different. That said, you can see that Nintendo Switch has seen a significant rise in sales per hardware unit year by year, and sales are higher than for Wii.

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