Exactly seven days ago, Nintendo Labo released. On launch day, it was about all the industry was talking about. But that was seven days ago. Now, nobody is talking about it. Not literally, but that’s what it feels like. The Nintendo Labo came, and is already gone, failing to even remotely reproduce the fervor that it garnered upon announcement earlier this year.
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That said, it shouldn’t be very surprising it hasn’t lit the world on fire commercially. Well, at least not in Japan that is.
According to Media create — a Japanese company that gathers and analyzes data from the digital entertainment industry, with a focus on Japanese video game market — the Nintendo Labo sold only 30% of its initial shipment, which isn’t a lot.
More specifically, it sold over 100,000 units – 90,410 Variety Kit units and 28,629 Robot Kit units – which is a decent start on the surface level, but far from the strongest for a Nintendo first-party release, and when you factor in the above-mentioned 30 percent, it looks even worst for the DIY product.
Whether Nintendo expected to sell a ton more units, or whether they simply over-shipped out the gate (which is rarely the case for any company, let alone Nintendo who has a history of doing the exact opposite), one thing is clear, there’s a lot of Labos sitting on shelves in Japan right now, and full shelves are never a great sign.
Further driving home the underwhelming launch of Labo in Japan is the fact that it didn’t increase Switch sales, in fact, Switch sales declined week-on-week. Again, not a good sign.
It’s worth pointing out that Nintendo Labo’s target audience is clearly children, and so when school gets out this summer it could see a boost in sales, but who’s to say if that will be a factor or not. If it doesn’t gain more traction in the coming months, it may be too late for it gain any at all.
Nintendo Labo is available for the Nintendo Switch. For more information on it, click here.
In other recent and related news, if you do have a Nintendo Labo, and are in need of some replacement parts, good news, they are now available.
Thanks, DualShockers.
