Headlines

Newzoo x Virtuos: Nintendo Switch Games Analysis

SirArthur

SirArthur

Member
Disciple
Pronouns
He/Him
As the games industry evolves, capitalizing on the Nintendo Switch’s unique market position can offer significant advantages and publishers. In Newzoo’s Games Market Reports & Forecasts Q1 2025, Virtuos partnered with Newzoo to analyze the key opportunities that developers can leverage by porting their games to the Nintendo Switch.
Click to expand...
  • What are the top genres and play motivations of Switch-only gamers?
  • What are the best-performing genres for Nintendo Switch ports?
  • What should developers consider when deciding whether to port their games to the Nintendo Switch?
Click to expand...

www.virtuosgames.com

[Stakeholder Spotlight] Newzoo x Virtuos: Nintendo Switch Games Analysis - Virtuos Games

As the games industry evolves, capitalizing on the Nintendo Switch’s unique market position can offer significant advantages and publishers. In Newzoo’s Games
www.virtuosgames.com www.virtuosgames.com

Full Report:
https://www.virtuosgames.com/wp-con...rt_February_2025_Virtuos_Redacted-Version.pdf

Before we jump into the report here is the source of the data and how it was analyzed:
Virtuos commissioned a study with Newzoo, the leading global provider of PC and console games data and insights.
Click to expand...
This article is an extract from Newzoo’s Games Market Reports & Forecasts Q1 2025 update. The data in this section is powered by the Newzoo Game Performance Monitor. The analysis covers ~1,500 titles and six markets: the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France,Spain, and Italy, and the data spans from January 2021 to December 2024
Click to expand...


yKXCslD.png


hiQRMJd.png


WEGPJhC.png


Nintendo's dominance is evident, with third-party exclusives being a small share. In 2023, ports made up just over a third of Nintendo Switch revenues, growing in 2024 as Nintendo prepared for the Nintendo Switch 2. As this transition happens, understanding third-party genre performance on the current Switch is key for developers aiming to capture more market share.
Click to expand...


73qUGOI.png



Wrzv1CG.png



0SZxtcu.png



rlid9cU.png



jDquVyz.png


Considering Virtous has worked on a number of switch ports and even some "impossible" ports, it was very interesting that they commissioned this work so better understand the audience.
 
Oregano said:
I'm shocked by how high the Switch % is for RPGs going by their estimates, especially considering this is just US + the EFIGS countries.

It really depends what games they're bundling into that umbrella though.
Click to expand...
Based on the article, they're counting games like Skyrim, Persona 5, Witcher 3, Diablo, and Wizard Game; all games we've have good cause to assume were very successful. I presume games like Pokémon, Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Unicorn Overlord, Shin Megami Tensei, Nier Automata, Monster Hunter, the three Mario RPG franchises, Mario & Rabbids, and the like are also included in this.

I think RPGs have just always been a natural fit for the platform. Some of the big third party success stories we've seen on Switch have been within the genre. Long form RPGs are the perfect "kick back in the couch and grind away on a portable" genre.
 
Decoyman said:
Based on the article, they're counting games like Skyrim, Persona 5, Witcher 3, Diablo, and Wizard Game; all games we've have good cause to assume were very successful. I presume games like Pokémon, Dragon Quest, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Unicorn Overlord, Shin Megami Tensei, Nier Automata, Monster Hunter, the three Mario RPG franchises, Mario & Rabbids, and the like are also included in this.

I think RPGs have just always been a natural fit for the platform. Some of the big third party success stories we've seen on Switch have been within the genre. Long form RPGs are the perfect "kick back in the couch and grind away on a portable" genre.
Click to expand...

Those would all be considered staggered releases. For cross-platform simultaneous releases their figures are 43% of total revenue being Switch pre-2021 and 48% of revenue being Switch from 2021-2024.

Basically they're saying if you released a multiplatform JRPG in the last few years that on average Switch represented 48% of your revenue in the major western markets. Which honestly seems a bit too high.
 
So they redacted the other years in the bar graph for revenue of first vs third parties…

But at least on my phone looking at the pdf form you can see it’s the individual parts are greyed.


You can just make out the different segments. 2024 has all 4 and 22 and 23 seem to have only 3. I’m guessing the ports are combined?
 
Oregano said:
Those would all be considered staggered releases. For cross-platform simultaneous releases their figures are 43% of total revenue being Switch pre-2021 and 48% of revenue being Switch from 2021-2024.

Basically they're saying if you released a multiplatform JRPG in the last few years that on average Switch represented 48% of your revenue in the major western markets. Which honestly seems a bit too high.
Click to expand...
It doesn't seem abnormally high to me. From my understanding it's fairly common for JRPG to have the Switch version to be the best selling version in the West. There is also a few multiplatform JRPG that probably got much more than 48% of their revenue on Switch because they launched without a PS version (ex: Monster Hunter Stories 2 & Harvestella) or because the audience was mostly cultivated on Switch (ex: Octopath Traveler 2).

Not sure how they consider games like Bravely Default 2, Rune Factory 5, Triangle Strategy & Live a Live given they released exclusively on Switch but got a late port on PC (+ PS4 for Live a Live), excluded I presume.
 
Marno said:
It doesn't seem abnormally high to me. From my understanding it's fairly common for JRPG to have the Switch version to be the best selling version in the West. There is also a few multiplatform JRPG that probably got much more than 48% of their revenue on Switch because they launched without a PS version (ex: Monster Hunter Stories 2 & Harvestella) or because the audience was mostly cultivated on Switch (ex: Octopath Traveler 2).

Not sure how they consider games like Bravely Default 2, Rune Factory 5, Triangle Strategy & Live a Live given they released exclusively on Switch but got a late port on PC (+ PS4 for Live a Live), excluded I presume.
Click to expand...

Their standard for "simultaneous" is 5 months of less between releases which all those Switch-> PC ports exceed so presumably not counted.
ILikeFeet said:
I can't help but think this is a pitch deck to push publishers to hire Virtuos for porting their back catalog
Click to expand...

That's exactly what it is.
 
ILikeFeet said:
I can't help but think this is a pitch deck to push publishers to hire Virtuos for porting their back catalog
Click to expand...
100%. Their biggest games that they have ported to switch fall in the RPG or Adventure category (some of the adventure ones have puzzles.

Top of the head: Nier A, L.A Noire, Dark Souls and Dying Light to name a few.

Weirdly enough, outside of the doomed Gundam Evolution, they havent worked with Bandai much. They should be the first to take a look at this.
 
Oregano said:
Their standard for "simultaneous" is 5 months of less between releases which all those Switch-> PC ports exceed so presumably not counted.
Click to expand...
They don't fit the "simultaneous" category but given the context of this analysis they don't fit the "staggered" category as well so either they are in the "third-party exclusive" or those titles aren't taken into account in this analysis at all.
 
Oregano said:
I'm shocked by how high the Switch % is for RPGs going by their estimates, especially considering this is just US + the EFIGS countries.

It really depends what games they're bundling into that umbrella though.
Click to expand...
Oregano said:
Those would all be considered staggered releases. For cross-platform simultaneous releases their figures are 43% of total revenue being Switch pre-2021 and 48% of revenue being Switch from 2021-2024.

Basically they're saying if you released a multiplatform JRPG in the last few years that on average Switch represented 48% of your revenue in the major western markets. Which honestly seems a bit too high.
Click to expand...
I tracked the hell out of Unicorn Overlord’s Amazon.ca 30-day sales, and if we were discussing that game alone, it’d be an underestimation. 60% of total sales on that storefront for the first month post-launch, and in the post-launch period was briefly 40% of total sales (while the Switch version was experiencing stock outages on a regular basis) and 75% of total sales when it came back in stock on Amazon.ca and continued that trend as it transitioned to the “catalog sales” period. So if you’re looking for simultaneous release stats that back up this data… that’s something.
 
Don't forget how Persona 5 Royal performed on Switch in Japan going by this post in the MC CY 2023 thread:

Fisico

Database Media Create  Post in thread 'Media Create Sales: CY 2023 (2023 Jan 02 - 2023 Dec 31) [new+used]'

Neo_arcadia7 said:
Yeah but some games have a large variance for example NB has P5R at 244K & last years MC CY had it at 300K. I try to dig through MC to find last updated numbers because sometimes it can make a difference. I wish NB would update with CY numbers.
Click to expand...

NB is using Famitsu and you don't mix trackers, it's a good source of information but indeed shouldn't be used for LTD numbers for many titles.

As for P5R this is what M-C has for this year
235./242. [PS5] Persona 5 Royal <RPG> (Atlus) {2022.10.21} (¥6.980) - 10.933 / 21.057 (+8%) (5.402 <47,75%>)
Click to expand...

And you can infer P5R PS4 LTD...
  • Thanks!

Like, holy cow. Money was left on the table for years and then some. But at least a wrong was right-ed.
 
Oregano said:
I'm shocked by how high the Switch % is for RPGs going by their estimates, especially considering this is just US + the EFIGS countries.

It really depends what games they're bundling into that umbrella though.
Click to expand...
tbf a lot of the big ones (Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk, etc.) just aren't on Switch at all so they wouldn't be counted here
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom