The Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Highlights the Company's India Challenges
With a Switch 2 reveal upon us, here's a brief look at the state of the Indian games market and what Nintendo would be up against.
With the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal finally on the cards, there’s curiosity around the company’s plans for the world beyond the US, Europe, and Japan. And much like the Nintendo Switch don’t expect the company to ramp up its presence in India or make the Switch 2 available officially at launch. In a previous newsletter, I buried the lede regarding Nintendo’s interest in India, at the time stating:
Nintendo has been eyeing India again. Several of its staff made it to the country visiting key markets like Mumbai earlier this year. However no deal has been struck with any party for distribution in India. Sources tell me the company isn’t a fan of India’s BIS rules which they fear could reveal their factories. Nonetheless if Sony and Microsoft have been able to find a way, it’s just a matter of time before Nintendo follows suit.
Following that, the likes of Redington and Ingram Micro have pitched for Nintendo distribution in India claim several people familiar with the matter. Those discussions don’t appear to have gone anywhere just yet. BIS is still a concern and structuring a price in line with Indian purchasing power is yet another problem. More so when the structure of duties and taxation as well as a weak rupee are far from welcoming to a lower price tag.
Nintendo Switch 2 India price will leave a lot to be desired
If the Nintendo Switch does make it here officially, expect it to be around 20-25 percent more expensive than it is right now unless Nintendo is willing to subsidise its hardware costs. Similar situation for the Switch 2.
Furthermore, while a pricier Nintendo Switch 2 would also bring with it official after-sales support and a robust first-party line-up of games as well as the Nintendo eShop, it would also ensure the existence of a prolific parallel market.
Right now, the Nintendo Switch is a steady seller at retail with over 500,000 units sold in India since launch. The entirety of the country’s Nintendo Switch-owning populace has been supplied unofficially by parallel imports.
The efficiency is such that the Nintendo Switch was available in India in line with its March 3, 2017 global release. These units were sourced by enterprising retailers at prices ranging from Rs. 37,000 to 45,000. Fast forward to nearly eight years later and we have the likes of Amazon flooded with merchants selling the console as well usually between Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 35,000 depending on the model.
The competition has a head start
The success and easy availability of the Nintendo Switch in India despite the lack of an official presence has caught the eye of the competition too. In markets like the US and Europe, Nintendo dominates store shelves. Sony and Microsoft knows this all too well. Those close to either company confirm that they’re paying close attention, tracking Nintendo Switch sales in the country as well as consumer interest around the Switch 2.
Others have been more proactive. Asus, MSI, and Lenovo have made their handheld PCs available for sale. And while the pricing leaves a lot to be desired, it’s an attempt in part to test the market demand and part to make up for Nintendo’s absence.
The results have been lacklustre at best — none of these companies reveal their sales numbers — but sources in the supply chain indicate that not more than 10,000 units have sold between these three companies, with the ROG Ally being the best seller of the bunch, making up around half of the sales. We’ve seen that many Steam Decks sold in India since then between the LCD and OLED variants with most stores moving between 30 and 50 units a month.
As it stands, Sony remains the dominant market force in India. While it took the Nintendo Switch seven years to hit the half a million milestone, concerted efforts from the PlayStation India team have seen them breach that number in under three years. Throw in a regular cadence of on ground events, advertising visibility across retail, mainstream media, and even transportation, as well as a healthy distribution network it’s no surprise that the market is currently theirs to lose.
The Indian gamer is the wildcard
The wildcard in this scenario is the Indian gamer. At the moment a bulk of India’s gaming populace consists of males between the age of 16 to 35 with around 70 percent of them being from tier 2 and tier 3 cities such as Pune, Ahmedabad, and Nagpur. Most of them have played shooters and BRs like Call of Duty: Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India (aka BGMI, the Indian equivalent of PUBG Mobile) on mobile devices. They are the reason why Krafton had a vice grip on the mid-core mobile space in India.
However, this is changing. It’s an open secret that BGMI has been haemorrhaging users. The casual player base has been shrinking by about 10 percent each quarter for the last year according to sources familiar with Krafton’s plans.
A slew of poorly thought out updates for the Indian market that ruined the player experience, a lack of emphasis on concrete anti-cheat, and simply that audiences are aware of how Krafton has treated its player base outside of India have all contributed to the slow rot of BGMI. Revenue is down too. Sources peg the figure to be between $50 and $70 million, down from the previously known figure of $74 million. This is also why Krafton is giving away cars and wooing Bollywood celebrities to be a part of their game. An insurrection over its esports plans hasn’t helped either with the c-suite of the country’s biggest organisations raising valid criticisms regarding the overall sustainability of Krafton’s BGMI esports roadmap for India.
It’s not like these players have quit gaming altogether. They’ve contributed to the PS5’s India success as well as PC.
“We’ve seen an uptick in gaming PC sales since the beginning of 2024,” says a pan-India PC components seller. “A lot of the buyers are first-timers who want to play Valorant or Counter-Strike, usually they got their start in gaming on mobile and want to play something with better graphics and depth.”
Would an audience whose taste in video games has been dictated by high-fidelity multiplayer-driven experiences be interested in Nintendo’s family friendly fare? No. They’d likely gravitate towards what the PS5 or PC have to offer. And that’s where Nintendo would have an uphill struggle. Granted Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon are known, but with a new generation seemingly gravitating towards more visceral, immersive experiences, it’ll be fascinating to see how Nintendo tackles India, assuming it has any interest at all.