Nintendo has reiterated that it will not release new hardware this fiscal year, which runs through March 2024.
The Japanese gaming giant made the comments during its latest quarterly earnings report. While rumours have persisted for years that a “Switch Pro” is on the way, the company’s comments indicate that neither an updated Switch nor an actual successor will come until, at the earliest, April 2024 or later.
Elsewhere in its earnings report, Nintendo revealed that the hybrid system has clocked in at an impressive 125.62 million units sold. This makes it the second best-selling console of all time behind only Sony’s PS2 (around 155 million units) and the third system overall behind Nintendo’s own DS handheld (around 154 million.)
That said, momentum is clearly tailing off. In its fiscal year that ended on March 31st, 2023, the company reported a hardware sales decline of 22 percent. That is to say, 17.97 million consoles were shipped during the 12-month period.
The company forecasts an additional 16.5 percent decline during the product’s next fiscal year on the market, which equates to approximately 15 million console unit sales.
As for software sales, the Japanese gaming giant reports a total of 1.036 billion games shipped for the platform, besting the company’s previous record holder, the Nintendo DS.
The attachment rate for first-party exclusive titles remains strong, with the likes of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe now sitting at 53.79 million units, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons at 42.21 million units.
While Nintendo says it expects fewer overall sales in its 2023 financial year, there are still several heavy-hitting games coming down the pipeline. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom launches on May 12th, which is sure to bolster sales to an extent. Pikmin 4, Pokemon: Scarlet and Violet DLC and more Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC all arrive later this year.
Financially speaking, the company’s net sales are down 5.5 percent at $12.56 billion (approximately $16.82 billion CAD), and net profit decreased by 9.4 percent at $3.2 billion (approximately 4.28 billion CAD). Digital sales, which include Nintendo Switch Online subscription revenue, increased by 12.7 percent at $3 billion (approximately 4.01 billion CAD) in revenue.
Whether Nintendo can reach its goal of an additional 15 million unit sales over the next year is still unclear. It’s possible that the Switch will eventually dethrone PlayStation 2 and become the best-selling game console of all time, though the company still has a ways to go.
Source: Nintendo
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