Nintendo has previously said that one of its goals with the Nintendo Switch was to make the console feel like the kind of system families would want to have more than one of in their household, a desire the entirely portable Switch Lite seems to at least partially help fulfill.
During an investor Q&A for the end of the quarter ending December 31, 2019, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa noted that 30 percent of all Nintendo Switch Lite owners, as far as Nintnedo can tell, purchased the system as their second Switch system.
He does note however that the overlap is down slightly from the previous 43 percent from several months back after adding data from Q3 and its holiday season into the mix.
One driving force behind Switch Lite sales was the recent launch of the first Switch-exclusive mainline Pokemon games, Pokemon Sword and Shield. Furukawa tells investors that many players that logged time on the handheld-exclusive Pokemon games picked up a Switch Lite as a dedicated handheld system for current-generation Pokemon play.
Despite interest in the system—the Lite helped Switch lifetime sales cross 52 million units just recently—Nintendo says its still struggling to find the best way to angle the Switch Lite in order to better communicate its appeal and entice more people to buy into the Switch ecosystem.
“I believe there are still opportunities to increase the specific demand for Nintendo Switch Lite,” said Furukawa, restating similar concerns shared during its quarterly presentation last month. “The task going forward is to figure out where those opportunities lie, and how we can engage with consumers so that even more can experience and purchase Nintendo Switch Lite.”