Nintendo Switch Proves Fruitful For Indie Devs As Console Outsells Xbox One In The UK
Nintendo has been hitting its stride over the last year or so, starting with its sweet retro NES Classic Edition that turned out to be incredibly popular with gamers looking for some old school gaming. The company followed up that success in March with the extremely popular Nintendo Switch, which has been rising up the ranks on the sales charts.
News out of the UK this week has confirmed that the Switch is handily outselling the Xbox One despite the UK being one of Nintendo's slower markets. The Switch is ahead of the Xbox One for 2017 sales according to current sales data. Christopher Dring, of GamesIndistry.biz, wrote on Twitter, "UK sales of Switch are slower compared with other markets. But doing ok. Currently ahead of Xbox One for the year (but well behind PS4)."
Dring did talk about Switch versus PS4 sales stating, "They're closer than they are in other markets. But PS4 is far away No.1 in the market."
With Microsoft set to launch the Xbox One X soon, many in the gaming industry are waiting to see how the competition between the Switch and the Xbox One X shakes out. Independent game devs are loving the Switch so far as it has proven to be one of the most profitable and popular platforms for many indie games.
Indie developers of the game "Wonder Boy" note that their game has sold more copies on the Switch than on all other platforms combined. Another indie title called "Oceanhorn" has also sold more copies on Switch than all other consoles combined.
Nintendo's Damon Baker, head of publisher and developer relations, had this to say about independent developers, "We just have that open dialogue with them and try and work on our release strategy so that we can get behind it with marketing and promotional support and make sure they aren't going to get lost in the noise of everything else that's going on."
Nintendo had promised more stock in time for Holiday shopping season coming up, but it has stopped short of promising that there will be enough stock to meet demand. Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime has admitted that Switch supplies might not be stable in time for the holiday season.
