More Switches Sold Than Any Other Nintendo Console. Period.
A spokesperson for Nintendo of Europe has stated that Nintendo has sold more Switches in its launch weekend than any other piece of Nintendo hardware in history. Various news sources have questioned the authenticity of Nintendo’s announcement, so Silent Protagonist has an excerpt from this announcement below, provided without comment,.so you can make up your mind.
Photographs of the Nintendo Switch’s midnight launch were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered at video game shops. This was the first time in our nation’s history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass outside the shopping mall. That had the effect of highlighting any areas where people were not standing, while in years past the grass eliminated this visual. This was also the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back at the malls, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the malls as quickly as they had for console midnight launches in the past.
Inaccurate numbers involving units sold were also tweeted. No one had numbers, because Nintendo, which manufactures the Switch, does not put any out. By the way, this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of people buying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild today in the same fashion.
We do know a few things, so let’s go through the facts. We know that from the front of a store somewhere, where the Nintendo Switch is sold, to somewhere else in the city, it holds about 250,000 people. From that area to a different area is about another 220,000. And from that area to yet another one somewhere in the city, another 250,000 people. All of this space was full when the Switch was launched. We know that 420,000 people used some form of public transport yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for the Wii’s launch. This was the largest group to ever buy a Nintendo console at launch — period — both in person and online around the globe. Even IGN printed a photograph showing a misrepresentation of the crowd in the original Tweet in their paper, which showed the full extent of the support, depth in crowd, and intensity that existed.
These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the Nintendo Switch are shameful and wrong. The President of Nintendo was also at the — as you know, the President was also at a local Gamestop and greeted by a raucous overflow crowd of some 400-plus Gamestop employees. There were over 1,000 requests to attend, prompting the President of Nintendo to note that he’ll have to come back to greet the rest. The employees were ecstatic that he’s releasing the Switch, and he delivered them a powerful and important message. He told them Nintendo has their back, and they were grateful for that. They gave him a five-minute standing ovation at the end in a display of their Nintendo fanboyism and their enthusiasm for our new console.
As long-time readers are well aware, Silent Protagonist has a store history of presenting you, dear reader, all the alternative facts. However, we will present the photos of the Nintendo Switch and Wii crowds, and let you be the judge.
We will not include the Wii U crowds, as not even the photographer showed up for its release.
