Nintendo: No Switch 2 before April 2025

Nintendo has suggested that the Switch successor won’t arrive before March 31, 2025, suggesting an April release at the earliest.

In the Question and answer text From this week’s earnings call – translated by GamesIndustry.biz “Sales forecasts for this period do not include sales of the successor device to the Nintendo Switch,” Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa told investors.

Earlier this week, Nintendo’s full-year financials forecast a 20% decline in net sales for the twelve months ending March 31, 2025 and hardware sales of 13.5 million units; This is a number that Furukawa says only applies to current Switch models.

He later said that Nintendo “[hasn’t] Launch timing for the company’s next console has been “discussed,” but its absence from sales forecasts suggests it doesn’t expect the device to be available this fiscal year.

The console holder said this week that it will announce the successor to the Nintendo Switch “during this financial year” but warned that it will not be mentioned in June’s Nintendo Direct.

The admission that she’s not talking about the timing of the new device came when asked about Nintendo’s plans to meet demand for the Switch 2 and prevent speculation, as well as concerns about component shortages.

“With regard to subsequent console supply for the Nintendo Switch…at this point, we are not seeing semiconductor supply issues like those that were occurring up until the year before last, and we do not expect semiconductor supply to be a major problem for the Nintendo Switch,” Furukawa said. Launch the console.

Elsewhere in the call, Nintendo’s president confirmed that the next model will continue to use the Nintendo Account system used by existing Switch and Nintendo handheld games, and that he expects an increasing number of customers to buy digital games for the device, though he stressed the importance of continuing to offer physical versions as well. .

He acknowledged that Nintendo’s goal of 13.5 million Switch sales during the new fiscal year is “at a fairly high level” given that the platform is currently in its eighth year, and that “it becomes difficult to maintain momentum over time.”

However, he noted how Switch sales are still “relatively strong” and that it is important for the platform holder to maintain momentum for the current console and prepare for the arrival of the next one.

When asked if the announcement of a Switch successor would affect sales of current models, Furukawa said: “While we do not believe that announcing a successor device and disseminating information about it will have no impact on Nintendo Switch sales, we intend to maximize sales by maintaining The balance between demand from new customers and demand for additional units [from existing customers].

“The expected device sales of 13.5 million units cannot be achieved easily, but we set this forecast at the beginning of the period with the aim of challenging ourselves to achieve it.”

He also noted how the success of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and the support of the Super Mario Bros. movie helped Nintendo exceed its forecast of 15 million units for the previous fiscal year by more than 700,000 units.

“Different measures will be needed to sell Nintendo Switch units in line with our expectations for this year. At the end of last year’s sales season, in addition to selling software bundles with hardware, we made suggestions to encourage customers to purchase a second Switch device. Through various efforts this For the year, we intend to raise sales volume to approximately 13.5 million units.