‘Major contributions came from the second round of add-on content’
Seeing Nintendo get involved with DLC was weird (the same goes for paid online and eventually season passes), but once they did, you could see the dollar signs pop up in real time. Nintendo has DLC-ed up a ton of their games in the past, and based on a new Q&A session from company president Shuntaro Furukawa, that strategy isn’t ending anytime soon.
Speaking to investors, Furukawa explains the second wind a few of their games have gotten from DLC, most notably Pokemon Sword and Shield, as well as Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Furukawa states: “As for the increase in sales of add-on content, major contributions came from the second round of add-on content for Pokemon Sword Expansion Pass and Pokemon Shield Expansion Pass, which was released in the third quarter, and from Fighter Pass Vol. 2 for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Nintendo Switch Online sales increased thanks in part to the growth in membership that has accompanied the rise in hardware sales.”
Furukawa, like he has in Q&As of old, further predicts a boon of digital sales, noting, “Consumers who have bought digital products and experienced their convenience tend to prefer to continue to make digital purchases, so we see digital sales continuing to trend upward over the mid-to-long term.” So expect more digital-focused DLC on top of everything.
Just the other day, I was musing on how much more monetary potential directly integrated DLC has for Pokemon, compared to the previous “extra game(s)” model. Nintendo has now confirmed the obvious.
Q&A [Nintendo]
