Nintendo Switch 2 Announcement Leaves Original Console’s Sales Unaffected

Nintendo seems confident that the announcement of the Nintendo Switch 2 hasn’t put a damper on the sales of their original hybrid gaming console, the Nintendo Switch.

This sentiment came up during a session where a shareholder questioned the company’s recent move to revise its annual financial forecasts. These adjustments included scaling back their hardware and software sales expectations by 1.5 million and 10 million units, respectively.

Shuntaro Furukawa, Nintendo’s president, responded by stating, “Looking at our third-quarter sales from October to December 2024 and our expectations for the rest of the fiscal year, we’ve adjusted our sales forecasts for both Nintendo Switch hardware and software.”

He further explained, “We’ve also revised our exchange rate assumptions. These changes, along with a few other factors, prompted us to update our annual financial forecast. Specifically, we’ve reduced our hardware and software sales projections by 1.5 million and 10 million units, respectively. This mainly reflects how sales trended during the holiday season. We’ve also adjusted our end-of-year exchange rate estimate from 140 yen to 150 yen per U.S. dollar.”

Furukawa highlighted the impressive achievement that cumulative sales of the Nintendo Switch have surpassed 150 million units, establishing it as a well-rooted platform. “This year, we were in a robust position, with plans to release many exciting new titles. This, along with factors like our extensive lineup of evergreen games and an annual user base that exceeds 100 million players, led us to set our initial, optimistic goals for the fiscal year.”

He continued, acknowledging that “new titles like Super Mario Party Jamboree made a splash in every region during the holiday season. Outside Japan, we saw solid sales with bundled hardware and software like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Even though sales were decent for a console in its eighth year, they didn’t hit the high targets we had set.”

Furukawa admitted that while there may have been some hold-off on purchases due to anticipation for the Switch 2, many new buyers stepped in during the holidays, including those picking up replacements or additional systems.

Regarding software, he noted, “Although software sales are trending downwards compared to last year, we feel the impact of delayed purchases wasn’t significant, seeing as Nintendo Switch games will run on the Switch 2. The drop in projected software sales could be due to the absence of a major title like last year’s ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ or ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder’ that could drive the business and create widespread excitement.”

For those eager to learn more about their upcoming console, make sure to catch the Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 presentation, set to air at 6 AM PT / 9 AM ET / 2 PM BST / 3 PM CEST on Wednesday, April 2nd.

As for the Nintendo Switch 2, expect it to hit shelves globally in 2025, although an exact launch date has yet to be announced.