Nintendo Switch’s one-year anniversary: Looking back on a breakout year

Nintendo Switch’s one-year anniversary: Looking back on a breakout year

6 years ago
Anonymous $gcegwZ91io

https://www.polygon.com/nintendo/2018/3/3/17074908/nintendo-switch-one-year-anniversary-sales-best-sellers

Today is the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Nintendo Switch. And boy, was that a day of days — a console debut smack in the middle of Game Developers Conference 2017. Let’s take a look back at the year it had, because it was more than just sales at a breakneck pace and a comeback story for Nintendo hardware.

• March 3, 2017: The Switch launches with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. We scored the game a 10, and we weren’t out on a limb, either; when the dust settles, the game Metacritics a 97, and it’s the game-of-the-year choice for many, including us. Breath of the Wild goes on to briefly outsell the Switch itself — and yes, that’s the Switch version, not combined sales (it launched on Wii U, too). Players can’t get enough, either; a 2D, retro-style fan-made game based on a concept shown at GDC makes it out, although it was quickly DMCA’d. It takes about five weeks to log the first 100 percent speedrun.