Rob Fahey wrote a 1000 word missive about the devkit shortage with zero (0) primary research, but only hearsay from a YouTube channel and … vibes? We can do it better:
In FY2025-03, 27% of Switch software sales was 3rd party. However, Nintendo accounting only recognizes the 30% platform commission for all 3rd party digital sales. So we need to adjust the number.
In the same FY, 53.5% of software sales was digital. (That’s 1st + 3rd, but the only number we can use as a proxy.) Since 53.5% of 27% was only counting 30%, the true proportion of 3rd party software sales was 39.74%.
So Mr. Fahey is arguing that Nintendo doesn’t care about ~40% of their total software sales. It’s small comfort that he isn’t a CFO at any game companies. Does GI.biz not fact-check the opinion pieces?
[Originally posted on 2025-08-29 Pacific Time]
