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Nintendo has reiterated that it still intends to announce its next console hardware before the end of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2025.
President Shuntaro Furukawa made the comments at an online press conference on Tuesday following the publication of Nintendo's latest earnings results, but the executive did not add any additional details.
Nintendo first confirmed plans to announce a successor to the Nintendo Switch in May, when Furukawa said: “We will make an announcement about a successor to the Nintendo Switch this fiscal year.”
In its latest earnings report for the three months ended September 30, the Switch company said it had lowered its Switch hardware sales forecast to 12.5 million for the fiscal year, down from 13.5 million, and lowered its operating profit forecast by 10% ¥ 360 billion. ($2.4 billion).
“For a platform entering its 8th year on the market, both hardware and software are enjoying stable demand and brisk sales,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said after publication of the results.
“But sales so far have fallen short of our initial projections. Taking into account their sales in the first half, we revised our estimates for both hardware and software, and this led to a revenue revision.”
Nintendo's share price fell nearly 4% following the publication of the results, and Toyo Securities analyst Hideki Yasuda told Reuters that Nintendo's shares may still be under pressure, as it is unlikely to announce a new console before the end of the calendar year.
“Making announcements this year has been tough enough… you don't want to turn attention to an upcoming console in the middle of the critical end-of-year shopping season,” Yasuda said.
According to a report, developers have reportedly been told not to expect Nintendo's next console to launch before April 2025.
“None of the developers I spoke to expected it to launch this financial year,” said GI.biz journalist Chris Dring. “In fact, they have been told not to expect that to happen [current] financial year. A group of people I talked to are hoping the film comes out in April or May, still early next year, not too late.
“I don't think any of us wanted a late Switch 2 launch because we all wanted the new Nintendo console, everyone got really excited about it, and we didn't want the meltdown of Grand Theft Auto 6 and the Switch and all that. things piled on top of each other.”
Launched in March 2017, the Switch is in its eighth year on the market. In July, it surpassed the Famicom as Nintendo's longest-lived console before being replaced.
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