Analyst Mat Piscatella, working for the NPD group, has shared his predictions and outlook on the game industry in the US for 2019.
Predictions
Piscatella predicts that the Nintendo Switch will “grow and lead the market” in 2019. This means he expects the Nintendo Switch, as a platform, to outperform PS4 and Xbox One this year.
The analyst expects Switch hardware to take more than 35% market share in 2019, thanks to the strong performance of the upcoming Pokemon 2019 core RPG and other titles such as Animal Crossing and Luigi’s Mansion 3.
Tougher competition
Despite the great outlook for Nintendo Switch, Piscatella also expects tougher competition in 2019. As 2018 was a year where many remarkable games were released, the analyst thinks there would be many months that “will fail to have the breadth and depth of content offerings”, thus leading to decline.
We do think that it’s too early to say as Nintendo has not revealed their full lineup for 2019. Nintendo Direct anyone?
Market leader
Overall, Piscatella feels 2019 would be a significant year with lots of changes for gaming, and the industry should not expect to see the same growth it experienced in 2018. The Nintendo Switch will lead the market as the next generation Sony and Microsoft consoles are being prepared for their 2020 debut.
