Nintendo remains confident that news about the Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t hurt the sales of its original pioneering portable console.
These comments were part of Nintendo’s response to a concerned shareholder, curious about why the company reduced its yearly financial forecast. This forecast adjustment included trimming hardware expectations by 1.5 million units and software expectations by 10 million units.
Shuntaro Furukawa, the president of Nintendo, clarified, “Considering our third-quarter (October-December 2024) performance and the outlook for the rest of the fiscal year, we decided to adjust our sales forecasts for Switch hardware and software.”
He went on to explain, “Adjustments to the exchange rate also influenced our revised financial projections. The decline in our sales forecasts, reducing hardware and software figures by 1.5 million units and 10 million units respectively, was largely based on sales trends during the holiday season. Additionally, we changed our exchange rate assumption for the fiscal year’s end from 140 yen to 150 yen per U.S. dollar.”
Furukawa highlighted the enduring appeal of the Nintendo Switch, noting, “The cumulative sales of Nintendo Switch have exceeded 150 million units, establishing it as a strong platform. This year, we planned to release a lot of exciting titles and, leveraging a broad selection of evergreen games and a user base of over 100 million annually, we set ambitious targets.”
Despite robust sales during the holidays, especially for new releases such as Super Mario Party Jamboree and bundles with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, they fell short of the ambitious expectations set at the beginning of the year.
“While we can’t entirely dismiss the impact of potential buyers waiting for the Nintendo Switch 2, the holiday season still saw a significant number of new customers and people upgrading or adding to their consoles worldwide.
“In the realm of software, while we’ve seen a downturn in year-on-year unit sales, we believe this isn’t largely due to postponing purchases, given that Switch games will be playable on the Nintendo Switch 2. However, unlike last year’s blockbuster hits like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom or Super Mario Bros. Wonder, we lacked a mega-hit that could boost our overall business and stir widespread excitement.”
For those eager for more updates on what’s next for the company, make sure to catch the Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 presentation streaming at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST / 3pm CEST on Wednesday, April 2nd.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is set for a global release in 2025, though the exact date hasn’t been nailed down yet.
