The Switch toes the line between home console and portable gaming machine, and Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima believes that this unique trait will ultimately help it match the popularity of the Wii.
In an investor Q&A following the company’s year-end financial report, Kimishima said that the portable nature of the console could lead to households that purchase more than one system and help drive sales towards the projected 10 million number Nintendo expects during the current fiscal year.
“Considering that Nintendo Switch is a home console video game system that you can take with you on the go so you can play anytime, anywhere, with anyone, we think there will be households that feel as though one is not really enough,” explained Kimishima. “This is another point that drives us to match the scale of Wii's popularity with Nintendo Switch.”
Kimishima notes that the Switch had best launch month of any Nintendo console to date, and hopes that a strong lineup of new releases staggered throughout the current year will help keep this momentum going. All of this leads into Nintendo's hope that the Switch will reach parity with the Wii and see roughly 100 million system sales and 900 million software sales throughout its lifetime.