There once was a time when digital sales and digital versions of video games were considered a big risk. After all, who ever heard of just playing a game without the disk and the box? Right? Well, since the advancement of technology, digital games are now a key part of our gaming lives. And for indie games, that’s the only way they can release in most cases. Nintendo has been embracing digital sales a lot recently, especially with the Nintendo Switch.
In fact, for reasons that still boggle the mind, indie games do fantastically on the Nintendo Switch, to the extent that even the current President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima, believes that digital sales will continue to rise on the system going forward. Here’s a statement he made during the recent financial briefing:
“I expect the percentage of digital sales will rise steadily in the years ahead. Consumers have grown accustomed to getting digital content, which is a trend that is clearly visible in the way consumers in North America and Europe purchase titles, and especially in the sales performance of titles from other publishers. Even so, there are also many consumers who purchase only packaged software, so I do not see digital content taking over all of sales. The sales ratio also differs for every software title, depending on factors like content and the age and type of consumers making the purchase, so I cannot predict how high the percentage of digital sales will rise for Nintendo. That being said, the percentage of digital sales has already risen above 50% on some titles released by publishers outside Japan, so I definitely think the percentage will rise for us.”
It’s hard to deny what the Switch has been doing sales wise, and digital sales have been huge in its 1st-year numbers, and that’s not likely to change for year two.
