Nintendo's Switch Online App Has Been Installed by About 17% of the Console's Owners

As part of its Q1 FY2018 earnings announcement on Wednesday, Nintendo revealed that it has sold nearly five million of its latest game console, the Nintendo Switch, worldwide. This news comes just a week after the Kyoto-based company launched its Nintendo Switch Online mobile app, which enables players to join teams and voice chat with friends in Nintendo Switch games, starting with the newly released Splatoon 2.

In the first 10 days following the app's launch, Sensor Tower Store Intelligence estimates that Nintendo Switch Online has been installed approximately 780,000 times worldwide, or by about 17 percent of all Switch owners. The installs break down fairly evenly between the App Store and Google Play, at approximately 400,000 and 380,000, respectively.

The category ranking history below from our App Intelligence platform shows an initial surge in downloads of the app in the U.S. and Japan, the two largest markets for Switch, followed by a more rapid decline in new installs for the U.S. in subsequent days.

It should be noted that the app isn't required in order to participate in multiplayer matches, but is needed if players wish to team up with friends and communicate via voice chat. This optional aspect to the app may be part of why we're not seeing a higher attach rate with Splatoon 2, which has itself has likely sold well beyond one million units worldwide to date. Additionally, Nintendo's decision to offer a key component of Switch multiplayer as a secondary, mobile app that requires users to search for and download it from a secondary source may be hindering its adoption.

In addition to a chilly reaction to Nintendo Switch Online from the gaming media thus far, those who've downloaded the app have given it mixed marks, with U.S. App Store reviews currently at 72 percent negative, 28 percent positive in their sentiment, with an overall rating of just two stars. Japanese players seem far more forgiving, showing 77 percent positive sentiment, 23 percent negative, with an average four star rating.