Nintendo on Tuesday said it saw sales of its aging Switch console continue to fall to 15 million units in the fiscal year ending March 2024, a 17 percent annual decline that would mark its third straight year of decline.
The Kyoto-based gaming company acknowledged that demand for switchnow in its seventh year on the market, although supply chain issues have eased and the company is beefing up its game offering.
“It’s difficult for Switch hardware and software sales to keep the same pace,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said at a news conference, adding that he still sees room for new users moving to the hybrid home/portable device come.
As Switch sales slow, investor attention is focused on a potential successor to the device, which has sold more than 125 million units.
“Based on the guidance, it’s crystal clear that the launch of a Switch 2 or entirely new hardware can be ruled out this fiscal year,” said Serkan Toto, founder of consulting firm Kantan Games.
The robust appeal of Nintendo’s character roster has been underscored by the box office success of in recent weeks The Super Mario Bros. Moviehelping the company diversify beyond its core console business.
The film exceeded expectations, Furukawa said.
Nintendo launches on Friday The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, one of the most anticipated games of the year. Orders for the game are progressing well, Furukawa said.
Meanwhile, Nintendo announced that operating profit fell 15 percent year-on-year to 504.38 billion yen ($3.73 billion) in the year ended March. The company’s projected profit for the current fiscal year will fall 11 percent to 450 billion yen.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
(This story was not edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
