Consumer perceptions of Nintendo ahead of the launch of new Switch console

Just weeks ahead of Nintendo’s new Switch release on October 8th, a new analysis from YouGov looks at consumer perceptions of Nintendo in key markets.

Data from YouGov BrandIndex, which measures and tracks brand health on a daily basis, shows that several of Nintendo’s brand metrics saw a lift in the US after the company announced the Switch OLED model in July.

Americans seemed to welcome the idea of a console refresh. Nintendo’s Impression score – a measure of consumers’ impression of a brand – in the US rose following the announcement of the new Switch in July. Impressions of the brand settled to pre-announcement levels in August but ticked up again in September, just weeks before the release of the new console.

Nintendo’s Index score proves more revealing of its successful summer in the US. Index scores are YouGov’s measure of a brand’s overall health and are calculated by taking the average of our Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend and Reputation metrics.

Nintendo’s performance across these metrics trended up by six points from an Index score of 37 before the announcement of the new Switch to 43 points at its peak in August. Two weeks from the release of the new Switch OLED, Nintendo’s Index score in the US sits at 42 points.

News of the upcoming Switch had little impact on UK consumers’ Impression of Nintendo. A separate YouGov poll conducted in Great Britain back in July reveals just

a quarter of British gamers who had heard of the new Switch OLED say they would be likely to purchase the new model (25%)

.

This figure was considerably higher in the US by comparison, with 50% of American gamers who had heard of the new Switch saying they would be likely to buy it.

Over in Japan, Nintendo’s Impression score has been steadily falling for the last three months, in spite of the announcement of the new console. This downward trend coincides with shortages of semiconductors and doesn’t seem unique to Nintendo.

Data from YouGov BrandIndex reveals Sony’s Impression and Buzz scores (whether consumers have heard something positive or negative about a brand) also fell over the same period and both

Nintendo and Sony have warned that shortages could hurt game console output

.

Despite the dips in Impression and Buzz, however, Consideration for Nintendo in Japan has only been growing stronger as we approach the launch of the Switch OLED. The video game company’s Consideration score grew from 9% in July to 12% in September.

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