Nintendo’s resurgence has made 2017 a huge year for console sales. In October alone, the Switch and Super NES Classic Edition along with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and 3DS generated $238 million in spending. That’s up 10 percent year-over-year, which is a trend for 2017.
“Year to date, hardware spending has grown 19 percent versus 2016 to $2.3 billion,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Consumer spending on Nintendo Switch, plug-‘n’-play devices such as the Super NES Classic, and the PlayStation 4 continue to provide growth.”
The Switch was the top-selling console last month, and Super NES Classic was No. 2. And Nintendo doesn’t expect the momentum to slow for either system. The company revealed it plans to manufacture 25 million to 30 million Switch systems for its next fiscal year, and it plans to continue making Super NES Classics for the foreseeable future.
Of course, the console left out of this dance is the Xbox One. Microsoft’s console sales have slowed due in part to a lack of marquee games throughout 2017. That should change for the November NPD report. The publisher released the 4K-capable upgraded Xbox One X at the start of this month. The early word from retailers like GameStop is that system is selling well.
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Even with the X, the Xbox One will probably have a hard time outperforming the Switch, which is still in the first year of its life and has Mario Odyssey and other hot Nintendo games. But increased sales for Xbox One will contribute even more growth to the gaming hardware segment before the end of 2017, and it’s a reminder that a lot of U.S. consumers are looking to put money toward a shiny, new gaming device.
