How the Wii and COVID-19 Bolstered Nintendo's Kingdom — and Why It Might Crack It

Let's start this article with a preface before everyone calls me out for lying or being statistically incorrect: Nintendo was a huge influencer in the videogame industry before COVID-19 hit. Its legacy dates back to almost the very beginning of gaming, and I am not undermining that success. But we're not touching on the triumphs that Nintendo has had, but the absolute dynasty that it has become and the death-grip it now has on the industry.

To say Nintendo is at the strongest it has ever been would be a massive understatement; sales figures for the Nintendo Switch 2 prove that. Despite the launch of the sequel to their behemoth console, the Nintendo Switch is still selling, with its overall lifetime sales across the eight years it's been live to 152.1 million units.

Nintendo's history of impressive console sales predates the Switch line, but by far, its strongest push to mainstream came from the launch of the Nintendo Wii, released back in 2006. It was a strong year for the videogame industry — the Wii and Xbox 360 were both new consoles at the time, and they ensured a prosperous year.

At the time, Nintendo's legacy was the revitalisation of the videogame industry from the 1983 crash, launching its first worldwide console in the Nintendo Entertainment System (the NES, though originally called the Family Computer, or Famicom, in Japan). The impressive sales units of 61.91 million set Nintendo on a path of glory, as many of its iconic franchises first saw the light of day in this generation: The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and more.

This set a precedent for Nintendo that it would soon follow up with other successful consoles... though, with a bit of a caveat. The home console sector failed to meet that glory time and again, and not even releasing the sequel console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (the SNES, or Super Famicom as it was known in Japan) could it surpass that. But their strongest successes followed through in handheld launches, where Nintendo just couldn't miss.

The numbers speak for themselves: the Game Boy and Nintendo DS families beat these out of the park. The accrued sales units of these were in the hundreds of millions, where consoles failed to catch even half of those glories.

The SNES sold 49.10 million units worldwide (which is no small number), the Nintendo 64 — despite its legacy as one of the most nostalgic consoles — sold 32.93 million systems, the GameCube couldn’t keep up with 21.74... Meanwhile, the Game Boy accrued 118 million sales, the Game Boy Color followed with 118.69 million, and the Game Boy Advance lagged behind with 81.51, but Nintendo would strike gold once again with the Nintendo DS (154.98 million units across DS, DS Lites, and DSi) and the Nintendo 3DS (42.74 million units spread across 3DS, XLs, and 2DS).

Nintendo's home console success fell behind — by a substantial margin — as controversies surrounded its other launches and competition was fierce from Sony and Xbox. Meanwhile, handheld consoles were largely unrivalled, and, worst of all, unchallenged: those who peered into the market were quickly crushed, even at their worst.

I've spoken before about the conquest of the Nintendo Wii, and this was when the company was hitting some of their highest highs — the Wii was another revolutionary change in Nintendo. While Sony and Microsoft fought to become the biggest, strongest fish in the market, Nintendo found success in remaining a humble, family-friendly console that was aimed at everyone: kids, teenagers, young adults, adults, and seniors.

The Wii was followed by the lacklustre (and oft-hated) Wii U, but it showed that the company tried to move its home console releases into something that would replicate the success of handhelds. It was a massive flop, with 13.56 million sold worldwide from 2012 to 2017, but the many concerns and issues players had with it would be later fixed in what would become its biggest console.

The Nintendo Switch came out, and its early sales figures were definitely promising — following closely on the Wii's sales pattern, it might be easy to say that it was a surefire win for Nintendo, were it not for the massive inflation of the videogame industry. The ecosystem of 2006 versus 2017 was vastly different, and though the Nintendo Switch was performing undeniably well, it wouldn't see the massive — and I mean gargantuan — boom that it would have during COVID-19.

Fusing at-home consoles with handheld was a great innovation move for Nintendo that covered all fronts: it amalgamated their handheld appeal (Game Boy, DS, etc), incorporated motion controls like their strongest at-home console (Wii), and built on the failures and critiques of its predecessor (the Wii U). By all accounts, it was set for success, as it found a way to innovate, adapt, and change into a market that was almost neglected (again, they were unrivalled in handhelds) and kept their motto of innovation alive.

It was an instant success; though it failed to mirror the Wii’s, it sold 14.86 million units in 2017, and by 2019, it had already amassed a lifetime sales stat of 52.48 million. In two years, it had accrued half of the Wii's lifetime sales in seven years, and the sales kept slowly ramping up with year-on-year growth, but usual console sales peak... and then fall off.

Not the Switch. Years one to three had already seen a slow peak and decline, creating a bit of an idea of how the Nintendo Switch was going to perform: by the time 2019 rolled around, its year-on-year change was already lower than the previous. But by 2020? Its console sales skyrocketed.

To give you an idea, here's how the Switch was selling at the time.

• 2017 — 14.86 million sales
• 2018 — 17.41 million sales
• 2019 — 20.21 million sales
• 2020 — 27.39 million sales

The number didn't go up by three-ish million it had been each year — it skyrocketed to nearly double the amount. In 2020, it was time for a natural decline for the Switch, as the fourth year was around the time we'd expect the numbers to start going down. Yet, it didn't: it set a record operating profit for a full fiscal year in the entire console manufacturer area.

To put it into perspective, the previous record holder was Nintendo, but this time, it was for the fiscal year ending in March 2009, which was the peak of the Wii and DS era;both of the highest-selling Nintendo consoles prior. And the numbers are absurd, too: the operating profits for the fiscal year ending in March 2009 for Nintendo were 555 billion yen; the ones for the fiscal year ending in March 2021 were 640 billion yen.

This was at a time when the Nintendo Switch was expected to start dropping off; it had been four years since the launch of the console, but the amount of sales was nearly 10 million units more than the expected 2020 trajectory. For that year, no massively standout titles were coming out to explain it — not even the phenomenon that is now Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

See, while Animal Crossing has become a standout franchise in the Nintendo line-up, and a vastly successful one at that, it wasn't one of the ones that players would put among the Mario and The Legend of Zelda before, even with launches in the most famous Nintendo consoles. Comprised of seven games, the franchise has been a part of pretty much every major Nintendo console ever since the launch of the GameCube, and its sales figures correlate pretty closely with some of the most successful ones.

When adding up all the sales for the franchise, it has sold about 81.83 million copies. While it's an impressive number, averaging to about 10 million copies per title, the reality is that New Horizons sales make up nearly 60% of the lifetime ones.

This made Animal Crossing: New Horizons the second-best-selling Nintendo Switch game, just behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The other times Animal Crossing has crossed the top-10 list has been in DS releases, with Animal Crossing: Wild World and Animal Crossing: New Leaf being ninth and sixth, respectively.

Even that works as an unreliable narrative, however, as New Horizons is the fifth best-selling Nintendo game ever, passing fourth place (Mario Kart Wii) by 10 million copies. To put that into perspective, Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the 49th most-sold Nintendo title and Animal Crossing: Wild World is the 57th, despite being some of the top-ranked games in their respective consoles.

The COVID-19 boom was helped by the fact that Nintendo had established itself as the most competitive console at the time. The pricing was current-gen, with amazing titles coming out that many could easily love, and the wholesome, almost cosy themes made living in a world filled with panic a bit more bearable.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons became the social hub for a lot of things when many couldn't come together, and it was accessible thanks to its pricing. Weddings, gatherings, and hangouts were done online via the imaginary, capitalist island of Tom Nook, giving players a respite in a depressing reality where many were stuck, alone, without social interaction for months.

This isn't to say that the Nintendo Switch succeeded solely due to the COVID-19 pandemic — usual sales numbers saw it landing somewhere along the lines of the PlayStation 5 or the Wii. The Switch was set for success from its many innovations and considerations, as the amalgamation of everything mentioned prior ensured it was thriving. Coupled with a great line-up of titles, with some of the most successful Mario and The Legend of Zelda games, it was already going to do well.

But the COVID-19 pandemic made an impact, possibly 40 million extra console sales worth of impact. It was no small feat, and strategically placed refreshes of the console (Nintendo Switch Lite and Nintendo Switch OLED) helped keep it on a steady pace to success.

Nintendo knows how much of a behemoth it is in modern-day, but this very boom and confidence could be the company's downfall. While this isn't to say that one bad generation could spell catastrophe, the company is sitting at the top of the videogame food chain at the moment, and many eyes are on it.

Reflecting on the Wii era, the console's success came from massive innovation (yes), but also from the fact that Nintendo targeted a bigger audience than just "gamers" at the time. Appealing to a more casual fan base meant that Nintendo established itself as the family-friendly option, a title it's held for a long time... and might be looking to surrender in this next generation.

The videogame industry is rapidly changing, for better and worse, and prices are increasing. The Switch has gone from £279.99 to a whopping £395.99, and the company is moving into more modern-day offerings: higher-resolution gaming, higher frames-per-second on the screen...

Yet, this is neglecting one of its core roots: the family-friendly buyers. The casual gamers who spawned the joke "every console is a Nintendo" might not be thinking about price increases in gaming from £49.99 to £66.99 (or £74.99 for physical editions) or the price hikes for the consoles. The loyal fanbase that follows it around not because of a superior product (though you can't deny Nintendo-published titles are top-notch quality) but because it's the easiest option: Mario, Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda... established household names, irrefutably.

These “bells and whistles” are things they might not care about, and not be willing to pay an extra £116 for. Family-friendly buyers won’t be counting frames or pixels; they might not be thinking about the pricing something like Mario Kart World has in comparison to Forza Horizon 5 and how it compares to other racing titles. They only care about the next big, Nintendo-published entry in the franchise they care about, not how it stacks in the overall genre.

Ironically, there is a group of gamers thinking about that now: the very same ones that Nintendo introduced to gaming from 2006 to 2013 — those who got into the videogame industry during the Wii's lifespan. Many, like me, who have continued to advance throughout the industry: from PlayStation (or Xbox!) to PC and Steam, and are learning about other options.

These gamers tend to care more about the quality of things — the very same people complaining that GameFreak’sPokémon was better in this or that generation. While Nintendo’s first-party games are amazing in quality, they can sometimes feel lacklustre in some areas, be it graphics (for the high-fidelity gamers) or polish. Those who want “creature collectors” and don’t just know it as “Pokémon”; those who want “2D platformers” and don’t just know it as “old Mario”. Those who branch out and find Palworld or Hollow Knight, and learn that they don’t have to pay full price with no discounts for similar — or sometimes better — experiences.

There are many eyes on Nintendo at the moment: because of its long-standing history in the videogame industry, because of the massive success and comfort brought from the COVID-19 era, because of its newest console and the expectation. The company sits at the top of the console food chain comfortably, but some audiences are starting to catch wind of the type of company Nintendo can be.

Controversies are starting to surround the Palworld lawsuit, controversies about the current state of the Nintendo Switch 2's lacklustre hardware paired with its high pricing, controversies about the company's brigade against emulation and conservation. And Nintendo continues making no allies in its crusade against some of its most die-hard fans, all the while opting to use its dominant position to normalise anti-consumer practices: dated online functionalities, no discounts on its first-party games, bricking consoles…

Things that the former category of gamers, the family-friendly buyers, don’t mind because they either don’t hear about it or don’t care because the state of the industry is irrelevant to them, but might be more price sensitive, as it barely classifies as their hobby. Yet, those in the latter category find upsetting or insulting — those who want to see Palworld succeed in a genre that has felt all-too-empty and uninspired, and the very ones who wouldn’treally mind paying top dollar for it.

The company needs to make a decision to abide by one of its two demographics and accept the downsides of appealing to either. Its massive Wii era spawned gamers who have grown into the industry, and its COVID-19 era created a kingdom very large... but one that has set it in the eyes of everyone.