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Ever since Nintendo announced its financial results yesterday – where it revealed that the Switch has already sold more than 107 million units worldwide and predicts that profits will fall again next fiscal year – there has been an awful lot of chatter about Switch’s successor, hasn’t it?
In questions and answers from a Japanese investor, helpfully translated by VGC, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa spoke about the company’s results and future. And the successor to the Switch did show up during the conversation.
Although he said that the Switch was only “in the middle of its life cycle” in February, Furukawa did admit that it will not last forever, but that the transition to a new next-generation console is “a major concern” for Nintendo. Furukawa says the smooth launch of Switch has allowed them to plan and develop the console even after more than five years, but that they are focusing on building “long-term relationships” with customers to mitigate as much risk as possible for the hybrid’s future. heir:
Unlike in the past, we still have a wide variety of games planned to be released, even five years after they were released. This is because the Nintendo Switch had such a smooth startup that it allowed us to focus all our development resources on one platform.
However, the question of whether we will be able to move just as smoothly from the Nintendo Switch to the next generation of hardware is a major concern for us. Based on our experience with Wii, Nintendo DS and other hardware, it is very clear that one of the main obstacles is how easy it is to switch from one hardware to another.
To help alleviate this risk, we focus on building long-term relationships with our customers. While we will continue to release new Nintendo Switch software, we will also provide services that also use Nintendo and other IP accounts outside of gaming software. We intend to help build a lasting impact on our customers.
Given that 3DS production stopped in 2020 and the 3DS eShop closed in 2023, Nintendo’s focus on hardware is clearly working in its favor. The Switch hasn’t really had any major sales issues since it dropped in 2017, with numbers continuing to rise at an extremely good pace – currently the fifth best-selling console of all time in the world, though.
But we all know that the Switch will need to be followed at some point, even if it’s just a significant, more powerful “Switch 2”. This discussion intensified again yesterday as Nintendo announced that hardware sales have begun to slow (although much of this is due to global chip shortages), so the company may need something, even if it is just the plan Furukawa offers. This is something we have been thinking about a lot over the last year, and yesterday’s results prompted this piece of us:
We’ll have to wait and see what Nintendo will produce in the future, but the Switch – now in its sixth year – is still doing quite well so far, despite falling numbers. Still, we have Breath of the Wild 2 next spring.
You can share what you think about Furukawa’s comments in the usual place.
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