Early GDC survey says developers believe Switch will outsell Wii U, but are unsure of mass appeal
GDC's State of the Industry survey polled 4,500 professionals about Switch, PS4 Pro, and Xbox Scorpio.
Results from the Game Developers Conference State of the Industry survey reveal that most of the professionals surveyed believe Nintendo's Switch will outsell the Wii U during its lifetime, but those same developers are less certain that consumers will find its console/handheld hybrid design appealing.
GDC pollsters collected results from 4,500 industry professionals before tabulating their data.
When asked how they thought Switch would do at market relative to Nintendo's Wii U console:
- 50% believe Switch will outsell Wii U, which has an install base of 13 million users
- 14% believe Switch will sell less than Wii U
- 37% were unsure
Regarding the Switch's primary selling point, its ability to go from conventional console to handheld device in a flash, the survey's results were uneven:
- 19% named it "the right product for the right time"
- 48% concluded that Switch might click with some players, but won't spark a revolution
- 11% believed consumers would show a lack of interest
- 23% took a wait-and-see approach, likely holding off on a decision until after launch
Nintendo will hold a Switch presentation tonight at 8:00 p.m. PT / 11:00 p.m. PT to discuss concrete details such as the system's exact release date, price, and offer a look at games due out at launch.
GDC's State of the Industry survey attempted to get a bead on how industry specialists feel about other consoles, namely Sony's and Microsoft's half-step consoles: PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio, the latter expected to release this holiday.
According to results:
- 18% thought mid-cycle hardware refreshes were good for the industry
- 5% considered hardware upgrades a negative industry development
- 36% ended up neutral on the subject
- 41% were undecided
Sony and Microsoft are still going strong. Over 50 million PS4s have been sold since its launch in 2013, while Xbox executives maintain that Scorpio will be the "most powerful console ever made" upon its release this holiday season.
[Source: PR Newswire]
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replyDavid Craddock posted a new article, Early GDC survey says developers believe Switch will outsell Wii U, but are unsure of mass appeal
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That was a little hard to follow with most of the numbers being written out; which is the traditional way you're supposed to do. Any chance you can tweak it a bit for easier reading? Maybe even a pie chart or two (ya, ya, I know - we all hate PPT) just to help keep the numbers in context of 100% and related to the questions?
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I only write out numbers when they start a sentence, per AP guidelines: http://writingexplained.org/ap-style/ap-style-numbers. I'll see about making some tweaks, though!
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I can't do anything as fancy as pie charts in our CMS (that I know of), but I broke down results in a format people might find easier to read. Hope it helps!
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Personally, I want to believe that putting real controls on a tablet design, but with a true console platform of games instead of "mobile" games, should do well. We complain so much about on-screen controls and virtual sticks, so this should be the real answer to stuff like that.
I've said several times, as long as Nintendo gives mobile devs the total stiff arm and not allow ports of "mobile" games, that games have to be real portable games, then this should do well. At least, that's what I'm after. I'm so done with mobile single mechanic time wasters wrapped in IAP.-
Yeah, same here. The Switch could be the best of both handheld and mobile (tablet) worlds.
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My guess, and I do not know for a fact at this point, is that there will be two SKUs: one without a pack-in game priced around $250, one with a game for closer to $300.
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My coworker gets starbucks everyday and I don't. In about two months I can afford a Switch.
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