Nintendo Co is gambling that it can sell millions of Switch consoles this holiday season by introducing a new Pokémon game that interacts with the free-to-play mobile hit Pokémon Go, as well as a new character that resembles a hex nut.
Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee went on sale Friday globally, the first titles from the popular series for Nintendo’s newest console. Armed with richer graphics, the games are designed to appeal to the 850 million fans who have played Pokémon Go. Only those who buy the new Let’s Go games can sync their smartphones and Switch consoles through a Bluetooth connection. Doing so lets users transfer pocket monsters between the mobile app and Switch games, and also unlock Meltan, the new character.
Nintendo is aiming to boost Switch sales during an otherwise lacklustre year for software releases. Analysts point to 2016 when Pokemon Go’s debut reignited interest in buying 3DS consoles to play more games in the series. They estimate Meltan can help sell 7.5 million units of the new titles by March, according to four analyst projections compiled by Bloomberg. Meltan was trending among Pokemon social media users within hours of the game’s release. By comparison, the Pokémon series have sold 101 million titles on Nintendo devices since 2004, second only to the Super Mario franchise with 121 million, according to Nintendo’s data.
“Pokémon Go had a significant positive impact on 3DS hardware and Pokémon software sales, so I think the potential is there for a similar impact on Switch,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games research at IHS Markit. “Nintendo believes this will make a great gifting product over the holiday sales season and is a key reason it hasn’t dropped its Switch full year shipment forecast.”
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