Recently, Serkan Toto, an industry analyst at Kantan Games, shared his insights on the Japanese console industry during a program, bluntly stating that the massive success of the Switch effectively saved Japan's home console industry.
After the Wii U suffered a commercial debacle, Nintendo was in a very difficult position. The analyst indicated that if the Switch had also become a failure like the Wii U, Japan's home console market would have been completely wiped out. According to his deduction, setbacks across two consecutive console generations would have pushed a large number of players toward other sectors: more users would have shifted to smartphone games, while also accelerating the migration of the player base to the PC platform.
Combining recent market data, the share of the Japanese PC gaming market has risen from 5% in 2019 to 12.5%, while the mobile game market size has reached a staggering $17 billion, with the console segment accounting for only about $3.5 billion. The appeal of alternative external platforms is inherently very strong. Toto stated: "Nintendo not only holds a 70% content market share in the Japanese console market, but it can be said that Nintendo saved the Japanese console market."
Since the launch of the Switch in 2017, Nintendo has firmly controlled the Japanese game console market. As the Switch became a phenomenal hit, breaking 155 million units in global sales, it stabilized Nintendo's core base in Japan and prevented the console industry from being completely cannibalized by mobile and PC gaming.