SEGA Didn’t Expect Switch To Be As Successful As It Was
Following the failure of the Wii U, Nintendo launching the Switch was a huge gamble that SEGA exec Shuji Utsumi was utterly surprised went so well.
Speaking with The Game Business, Utsumi revealed nobody really believed in Nintendo turning things around and the original Switch being “that successful.”
“Since I was a member of the PlayStation launch team, I have a big attachment to the console business. And Nintendo has been playing an amazing role… Jesus, they made a great contribution to this area. I didn’t expect Switch 1 to be that successful. Nobody did.”
Now, to be fair, even internally things weren’t super stable before launch, with The Pokemon Company CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara being an example of a doubter. He didn’t believe in the console thanks to the prevalence of smart phones.
Of course, both Utsumi and Ishihara were pretty wrong, with the console becoming among Nintendo’s best-selling consoles at 150 million units.
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